Accidental Experiences
by jax514
Summary: Rory didn't think that this was the sort of experience her mother had in mind when Lorelai insisted that she leave her door open for the party. Season 4 AU, Rogan.
1. Something Like

**A/N: **For the purposes of this story, I should probably set the stage a little bit before you start reading. This is a season 4 AU. Assume that Logan didn't take a year off to go sailing around the world. Everything up through Paris kicking everyone out at the first party of the year happened. As of right now, I'm pretty much eliminating Marty's story line, mostly because I can't find a real purpose for it at the moment. If I can figure out how to write him in and give him a purpose, I will, but for now I'm talking him out. I'm gonna try to go off of the normal S4 plot a bit, but for the most part I'm picking and choosing what I want to keep. I'll try to keep the story up to speed on what in the show from season 4 happens in this story as well.

I think that's all you need to know for now. Enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter One – Something-Like<span>

Rory figured that she only had herself to blame. This is what you get when you open your door for the party. You walk into your common room in the middle of the night, well after you've kicked everyone out of your dorm, to find some guy passed out, lying naked on the floor.

There were several things wrong with this situation. The first, and most obvious, was the fact that there was a naked boy passed out in the middle of her common room floor. The second problem, which was equally as obvious as the first, was the fact that Paris had abruptly kicked everyone out when she had finally come to the conclusion that the party wasn't fun in the slightest. That was hours ago.

The third problem was that Rory was pretty sure she had never seen this boy before in her life, although it was hard to tell. He was sleeping on his stomach, which made it impossible to see his face, but also kept the part of his anatomy that she would rather not see hidden from view. He seemed rather tall, and he had brown hair, but other than that she had no clues as to who this person was.

She should have never listened to Paris. Or her mother, for that matter. When Rory was reluctant to open the door for the party, Paris had gone out of her way to call her mom behind Rory's back. Lorelai had managed to convince Rory to change her mind about the party, despite her many protests. "I'm not just talking about making friends, I'm talking about experiencing things," Lorelai had told her, going on to name a whole list of things Rory would probably never do voluntarily. "Those are all experiences. Maybe dumb experiences, but you never know when you're accidentally gonna stumble across something that could be…something."

Is this what Lorelai meant by experiencing something? Because as of right now, Rory would happily go through all four years at Yale without having to deal with finding naked strangers passed out on her common room floor.

Rory was still trying to figure out how he got into her dorm room in the first place, and what to do about it, when she noticed the cell phone clutched in his hand. She wondered how he had managed to keep track of his phone, and yet his pants had mysteriously disappeared. At the moment, his phone was lighting up to signal that he had an incoming call. Since the phone vibrating in his hand didn't seem to have any effect on him, Rory figured that the best way to figure out who he was and get rid of him before any of her roommates woke up was to answer it.

"Finn?" said a female voice when Rory flipped open his phone. "Where the hell are you? I left you for five seconds and you were just _gone!_ You're not in your room, and no one's seen you for hours!"

"Um," Rory said softly, hoping that she wouldn't wake up either of her roommates. "This isn't Finn."

There was a pause. "Ooh! Sorry. I didn't realize that Finn left with someone. He disappeared on us. So I'll just let you two get back to whatever it is you were doing – "

"No!" Rory protested, her voice becoming slightly louder than she intended. Her cheeks turned bright red at the insinuation that she had been fooling around with this stranger. "No, we weren't doing anything. I don't even know him. I just…found him passed out on my common room floor. Naked."

She heard the girl sigh on the other end of the line. "I'll come get him. Where are you?"

"First floor Durfee. Suite five."

The girl didn't waste time saying goodbye before she hung up, so Rory assumed that she was already making her way over to retrieve the boy, hopefully with some clothes for him to put on.

Rory sat down on the couch, unsure of what to do next while she waited. She thought about covering him up with a blanket, but she really didn't want one of her blankets to be touching the naked body of this complete stranger. She didn't want anything she owned to be touching him, for that matter. Maybe she was being a bit of a prude, but Rory preferred her things to stay far away from other people's naked body parts, particularly when she didn't even know the person in the first place.

She silently prayed that Paris wouldn't wake up. Her roommate wasn't exactly the heaviest of sleepers. Janet and Tana, Rory's other roommates, probably wouldn't be too thrilled to be woken up in the middle of the night because a stranger was naked in their common room either.

How did he get there in the first place? There was no way that Paris would have forgotten to lock the door after kicking everyone out. Janet still hadn't come back at the time, so perhaps she accidentally left the door unlocked after she returned. Paris would be in an uproar if that were the case. (Yet another reason Rory hopped that her roommate didn't find out about this. Rory could already hear the argument that would ensue out of that situation.) He could have somehow broken in, although Rory wasn't sure how he could have managed that one while completely obliterated.

At last, there was a soft knock on the door of the suite.

"I'm so sorry about this," said the blonde girl who was now making her way into Rory's dorm.

"It's, uh…" Rory was going to say that it was fine, but stopped herself. It wasn't really _okay_, but there wasn't exactly anything she could do about the situation either. "If we could just try to keep it down. I don't want to wake up my roommates."

"No problem," the girl replied quietly, dropping the bundle of clothes on the floor next to the sleeping figure. "Do you have some water I could dump on him? That should do the trick."

Rory shuffled across the floor silently to the sink, her slippers making a soft scratching sound as she went, and filled up a glass with some cold water before handing it to the girl. She unceremoniously dumped the thing on his head. The sleeping boy finally began to stir, moaning slightly at the very rude awakening.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" he said in some sort of an accent.

"Finn, do you have _any_ idea where you are? You're passed out naked on the floor of some freshman's common room! We don't even know this girl, Finn!"

He groaned, turning over onto his back. Rory panicked. She did _not_ want to see him naked.

"Oh god!" she exclaimed, shielding her eyes quickly. Rory heard the girl chuckle next to her.

"Put some clothes on, you stupid, pathetic, Australian moron!" the girl whispered. "What the hell are you even doing here, anyway? I swear to god, Finn! I can't even go to the bathroom without you disappearing."

"I don't know!" the Australian mumbled a bit too loudly, causing Rory to shush him. Her hands were still covering her eyes, but the sound of rustling signified that he was slowly trying to pull his clothes on. "There was a redhead. Or maybe it was a blonde."

"Well two of my roommates are blonde," Rory said. "However, both of them could probably kick your butt, so I suggest you get a move on before either one of them wakes up."

"You heard her, Finn. Let's go!" Rory felt the girl tap her on the shoulder. "It's safe to look now."

She removed her hand from her eyes to see Finn on the floor, struggling to push himself up and into a sitting position. When he finally managed it, he immediately toppled over to the side.

"I can't move," Finn said, his arms reaching up towards the blonde girl. "Carry me?"

"Oh, for god's sake, Finn! I can't carry you all the way back to Berkeley!"

"It's not that far!"

"You're drunk, you're taller than me, and you weigh more than me. How do you expect me to carry you?"

"I dunno, love, but I can't stand."

The girl sighed in frustration. "I am going to _kill_ you for this!"

"What are you going to do?" Rory asked, glancing towards her bedroom door nervously. She was lucky that Paris hadn't woken up and stormed into the common room in a rage. It was only a matter of time before her uptight roommate heard them and all hell broke loose.

"I'm calling in reinforcements." She pulled her cell phone out of her purse, dialing someone's number. "_Please_ pick up!" she whispered, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the person to answer her call.

"Colin," said the girl in relief. "Hey, I found Finn. I can't get him to move though." There was a pause as the person named Colin responded. "No I _can't_ just leave him here! He was passed out _naked_ in some freshman girl's common room! We're lucky she didn't call campus police! Can you and Logan _please_ just get here and take him home so we can let this poor girl go back to sleep before her other roommates wake up and decided to call the cops?"

Rory watched as the girl begged her friends to relieve her of this burden. She wondered how many times the girl had to collect her friend after a night of drunken frivolity. Rory thought it must be quite often, since the boy named Colin had suggested just leaving Finn there until the morning.

"Really?" the girl finally said. "Thank you guys so much! Tell Logan I'm sorry. We're in Durfee suite five. And please hurry!"

The girl hung up her phone and replaced it in her purse. While Rory was relieved that this naked guy would soon be out of her life for good, she thought that letting two more people into her common room would be pushing her luck. Any minute now Paris could wake up, and Rory had no way to predict how _that_ would turn out. She did, however, know that the outcome would be unpleasant. The girl was already on edge as it was, trying to make a new name for herself here at Yale, all the while actually hating just about everyone she came in contact with. Rory didn't think that finding strangers in her common room would help to loosen Paris up in the slightest.

"Do you think we could at least carry him outside while we wait?" suggested Rory, trying to keep her voice as low as possible. "My roommate Paris is kind of uptight. I can't really control what will happen if she wakes up and finds you guys here.

"Oh yeah, of course!" the girl agreed, moving towards Finn's head. "Help me out, will you? I'll grab his arms, you get his legs."

Rory retied her bathrobe around her middle, and the two girls lifted him off the ground together.

"Ow!" Finn protested. "Watch the hair, love!"

The girl smacked him upside the head. Finn groaned in response. "_You_ don't get to complain right now. Colin and Logan are going to _kill you_! And so am I, for that matter. You can't even make it through one week back at Yale before you disappear and we have to come collect you somewhere."

They had reached the door and Rory, who was walking backwards, turned around to pull it opened quietly. They dragged Finn through the doorway, dropping him once they made it into the hall, causing Finn to groan once again. The girl closed the door quietly behind her, and Rory let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks again for not calling the cops," the girl said, her voice at speaking level for the first time.

Rory shrugged, tugging at the sleeves of her bathrobe. She leaned back against the wall next to her door, suddenly feeling incredibly drained. It had been a long evening.

"I'm Steph, by the way," said the girl cheerfully, apparently oblivious to Rory's tired state.

"Rory," she mumbled, her eyes half closed as the two waited for Steph's friends to come and collect Finn.

"So how do you like Yale so far, Rory?" Steph continued. Rory's eyes fluttered back opened.

"Well, if every night is as eventful as tonight has been, then I'll never lack for a decent story to tell. I might murder a few people in the process, but at least I'll get a good story out of it."

Steph chuckled. "If there's one thing that could be said about Finn, it's that he provides you with a plethora of entertaining stories."

"You don't know the half of it," Rory mumbled, rolling her eyes, thinking back on the rest of her evening. The party had been incredibly boring, and not the least bit in her taste. Then there were the two blonde girls that were daughters of one of her grandmother's DAR friends. Emily had told the girls (whose names were escaping Rory at the moment) to look Rory up, as though her grandmother thought Rory incapable of making proper friends on her own. The girls were overbearing, and Rory hadn't paid attention to a word they said all evening. Luckily, Paris had finally come to her senses and kicked everyone out, relieving Rory of the responsibility of having to ditch them later on. She just hoped that the two girls wouldn't try to hang out with her again, because Rory had no intensions of being friends with them. They were some of the most uninteresting girls Rory had ever met.

They ignored the Australian bemoaning his grievances on the hallway floor. Rory didn't particularly care to listen to him whining about his pounding headache or how the room was spinning.

"How did you even get into my room in the first place?" Rory finally asked the question that had been bugging her. "We kicked everyone out hours ago."

"Don't even bother to question it," Steph said, pacing in front of Rory and checking the time on her cell phone. "I found him naked on the roof of Sterling Library once. It's easier to just not even ask."

"So I take it that this is a regular occurrence."

"He likes to go through naked phases," she replied with a sigh. "He also has a penchant for doing some really stupid things when he's drunk. Dumber than a normal person would, I mean, and many times they result in injuries. It was my turn to watch him, but he disappeared while I was in the bathroom."

"Well, it could have been worse," said Rory. She wasn't sure why she was trying to cheer the obviously frustrated girl up. After all, Rory was the one to find him naked in _her_ common room. But it hadn't really been a big inconvenience for Rory, whereas it seemed that Steph had spent the majority of her night trying to find him. "My roommate Paris could have been the one to find him. There might not have been anything left of him when she finished."

"Right now, I'm not sure that would necessarily be a bad thing," Steph said with a laugh. "Then I wouldn't have to drag myself around campus trying to find him. There wouldn't be anything to find in the first place."

"You mean you _don't_ like running around campus at 3 o'clock in the morning looking for your friend? Sorry, my mistake."

She laughed even harder. "I like you, Rory."

Rory's lips curled up into a smile. Maybe this night wasn't a complete waste after all.

Finally, the sound of running footsteps filled the hallway, causing both Rory and Steph to look up. Steph sighed, relief showing on her features. It was then that Rory realized that she was standing in the middle of the hallway in her pajamas, surrounded by three men she'd never met before. Her cheeks flushed slightly as the two new boys, one of them blonde and the other brunette, came to a halt in front of Steph. They were both dressed rather nicely in expensive looking clothes, signifying that they had money. They hardly even noticed Rory leaning against the wall trying to hide away in embarrassment.

"I am going to kill you, Finn," the blonde one said, running a hand through his hair in annoyance.

"Not so loud," Finn complained from the floor, trying to turn away from the sound of their voices.

"You have no say in the volume of our voices right now," the brunette responded.

"Those girls we had with us bailed the second Steph called," the blond informed his friend, raising his voice even louder. "So thanks for that."

"Alright, I'm sorry!" Finn mumbled, covering his ears with his hands in a further attempt to block out their voices. "Just take me home already! I bloody well can't stand up on my own without the whole world spinning right now."

"Apologize to Rory first," Steph interjected.

"Rory?" Finn's face scrunched up in confusion. "Who the hell is Rory?"

"Rory! The poor freshman who found you passed out naked on her common room floor! The girl who was nice enough to actually answer your phone when I called, unlike you. The girl who has very considerately _not_ called campus police on you. The girl who is standing right over there," said Steph, gesturing towards Rory. "The girl who just helped me carry you out here not even ten minutes ago. You know, _that_ Rory!"

All three boys turned to face Rory, the two newcomers suddenly noticing her presence. The blonde one looked her up and down appreciatively, smirking at her appearance. Rory folded her arms over her chest, tugging her bathrobe even tighter around her. Rory felt her face flush in embarrassment once again.

"I apologize on behalf of my idiot friend," the blonde finally said, gesturing towards the Australian who was still lying on the floor. "He hasn't seemed to learn not to break into other people's dorms in the middle of the night; we're not sure how he does it either. He also doesn't seem to realize that most people don't find nudity charming, cute, or funny outside of the appropriate situations."

"It's – uh, it's no problem," Rory stuttered, still rather embarrassed by her underdressed appearance. This only made the male's smirk grow even wider.

"My name's Logan," the blonde told her. "My friend's Colin." The other boy nodded in Rory's direction. "You've already met Steph and the moron."

Rory pulled one of her arms away from her chest to wave slightly, pulling it back against her body tightly after. She wanted this interaction to end as soon as possible. It was one thing for one girl and a drunken guy she'd never met before to see her in her pajamas. It was another thing for these two completely sober guys to be added to the equation.

"We'll just get out of your way now," Colin told her, moving towards Finn to pick him up off the ground. "And hopefully we'll never have to bother you with our drunken friend ever again."

Logan still hadn't made a move to gather up his friend from the floor. His eyes stayed trained on Rory, a mischievous look in his eyes. "Unless, of course, you _want_ us to bother you. Then by all means, I would be happy to oblige. Maybe next time I'll even match your attire."

"Logan!" exclaimed Steph, smacking him hard in the chest. Rory felt her stomach flip over at his rather obvious flirting. "Leave the poor girl alone. We've bothered her enough for one evening, let's just let her go back to sleep."

"Right." Logan took in her appearance one last time before turning away, helping Colin to lift Finn up off the floor. Each boy had him by an arm, his head resting against Colin's shoulder, as though he were unable to hold it up on its own accord. Finn's legs hung uselessly between them as dead weight. "It was nice meeting you, Rory. Sorry for the inconvenience." Logan gave her one last smirk before the two boys slowly made their way down the corridor and towards the exit.

"Thanks for your help," Steph added. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"Sure," she said, although Rory rather hoped that the boys wouldn't remember this awkward meeting if that were the case, though she doubted that she'd be so lucky. Particularly the one who couldn't seem to take his eyes off her. Rory wasn't sure how the way he was undressing her with his eyes made her feel, never having experienced something like that before. Not even with Jess.

With one last smile, Steph ran after her friends, holding the door opened for them as they pulled Finn through it carefully.

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><p>The evening hadn't been a complete waste of time after all, Logan thought as he helped Colin drag Finn across campus, Steph trailing behind them. Although he was disappointed that he was no longer getting laid tonight thanks to Finn, girl who found Finn was cute. If he didn't already know she was a freshman due to the fact that she lived in Durfee, Logan would have been able to tell based on how embarrassed she seemed to be caught in her pajamas. The way she squirmed under Logan's scrutiny was definitely adorable. The interaction had amused him greatly.<p>

"Well, at least if you had to pass out in a stranger's dorm, you picked someone cute," Logan told his friend.

"Seriously, well done!" Colin added appreciatively. "But don't think that lets you off the hook."

"Leave her _alone_, Logan," Steph warned. "She's a nice, clearly very innocent girl. She doesn't need you corrupting her."

"What, I can't talk to a girl now?" Logan knew very well what Steph was insinuating, but he chose to play clueless anyway.

"Talking's not what you had in mind, and we both know it. I mean it, Logan. That girl is _so_ not one of your usual bimbos. For one, I actually enjoyed the little time I spent talking to her." They reached Berkeley, and Steph pulled the door opened so Logan and Colin could drag Finn through. They all remained silent as the two boys concentrated on pulling Finn up to their third floor dormitory.

Steph waited until they deposited Finn in his bedroom, closing the door behind him, before she went back to Logan.

"I mean it, Logan. I could actually see myself being friends with that girl. If you do anything to screw it up, I will _make_ you regret it."

Logan had no intensions of screwing up Steph's chances of making a new friend. But flirting with the girl had been far too much fun to just give up so easily. Steph's warnings only served as his encouragement. Besides, there were plenty of other ways he could push the girl's buttons in order to amuse himself.

This was going to be fun.

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><p>Well, Rory thought. She had certainly experienced something tonight, just like her mother wanted. Rory was pretty sure that finding a naked guy in her common room wouldn't turn out to be as 'something-like' as Lorelai had insinuated, but at the very least it was a good story to tell her mother about tomorrow.<p>

Chances are she would never see any of them again. In any case, Rory could sort of see her mother's point about new experiences. It had been an unusual experience to say the least, but an experience nonetheless.


	2. Pajama Party

**A/N: **Hello! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this update finished. I didn't mean to upload one chapter and then leave you hanging for two weeks. I've actually been working on this chapter for a while now, but I had a severe case of writer's block that slowed down the whole process. I must have rewritten parts of this chapter at least 10 times, because it just wasn't working. But I've gotten the whole thing under control now, and have already started work on the next chapter, so hopefully I won't leave you waiting for such a long time again. Enjoy!

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><p><span>Chapter Two – Pajama Party<span>

"Completely naked?"

"_Completely_ naked!"

"And he was passed out in your common room?"

"Right in the middle of the floor!"

Rory was dying to tell Lorelai everything about the 'naked stranger in the dorm' incident all throughout Friday night dinner, but she couldn't think of a way to bring it up without her grandparents, particularly Emily, becoming wildly curious. Her grandmother was butting into her life enough as it was.

Rory knew that she only had herself to blame. She should have known what she was getting in to when she asked her grandparents to pay for Yale. Lorelai had as good as told her so when Rory approached her grandparents about the loan, but there hadn't really been any way around the situation. She was stuck with her grandmother butting into situations she didn't belong, including Emily's desire to stock her common room with brand new, expensive furniture.

In any case, Rory had to wait until well after dinner was over to tell her the whole story. They were back in Stars Hollow, having coffee in Luke's Diner, eating some pie. Rory hadn't intended on coming home that weekend, but the full story was better told face to face.

"Boy, your college life is better than a soap opera!" Lorelai finally said when Rory finished telling her everything. "I should have asked Luke to make us some popcorn. Pie does not do this story justice!"

"I'll keep that in mind for my next story."

Lorelai finished the rest of her coffee. "So did naked guy at least have a cute butt?"

"Mom!" Rory blushed. "I wasn't exactly checking out his butt. I was a bit more concerned about getting him out of there before Paris woke up."

"Yeah, but come on! Naked Australian passed out in your room. If you didn't at least glance at his butt, then I have serious doubts as to whether or not you're actually my daughter. Maybe you were accidentally switched at the hospital with someone else's baby, and I've been raising the wrong child this whole time!"

Rory made a face at her mother. "I mean, I _guess_ his butt was kind of cute. But he is so not my type."

"He's Australian, he has a cute butt. How is that not your type? Sounds like the perfect type to me!"

"Well, I prefer guys who don't make it a habit of getting drunk, taking all their clothes off, and passing out all over New Haven. That girl Steph made it sound like this is a regular occurrence. No thank you, I'll pass."

"Okay, you're right. What about the other guys who came to get him? Were they cute at least?"

Rory shrugged. "I mean, I guess. But they remind me of the guys from Chilton, like Tristan? They act like picking up girls is just one big game. And the blonde guy, Logan? He just kept _looking_ at me. I mean, what exactly was he looking at? I was in my pajamas! I didn't even look cute."

"Come on, Rory, you can't really be that clueless." Lorelai wanted to be sympathetic, but her daughter was a little naïve sometimes.

"What are you talking about?"

"Those guys were probably checking you out. I can't really blame them; you have good genes. And you do have that annoying ability to look cute in your pajamas."

"You're supposed to be on my side here." Rory was pouting a little bit, and she knew it.

"I _am_ on your side," Lorelai insisted. "Look. All I'm saying is that guys will check you out. Especially college guys. It's what they do; it may as well be their slogan. I mean, what else is there to do in college?"

"I don't know, go to class maybe?"

"And where's the fun in that?"

Rory sighed. She wasn't really used to the whole, 'guys checking her out' kind of thing. It made her feel weird. "Any way to avoid it?"

"Well, you could try getting really fat and wearing a paper bag over your head, but I don't think even that will work. Even fat girls can have boyfriends. Have we learned nothing from Shallow Hal?"

"That was different. Hal was hypnotized into believing that his new girlfriend looked like Gwyneth Paltro when, in fact, she was incredibly overweight. I may eat a lot of junk food, but somehow I am still of average height and build. A marvel to the medical world, but it does nothing to help me with your whole, 'get really fat' suggestion."

"Well, then you've really only got two other options."

"And what's that?"

"One: you can take the compliment and ignore a guy who checks you out like that."

"Don't think so, what's your next option?"

"Two: you can yell at the next guy who even so much as glances at you in a displeasing manner until he runs away like a coward with his tail between his legs."

"Or I can have Paris do it or me."

* * *

><p>Rory was going to kill Paris, end of story.<p>

It wasn't Paris's usual bout of insanity that was driving Rory crazy at the moment. On this particular occasion, Paris had turned off Rory alarm clock, causing her to almost miss breakfast. True, Paris was rather on edge lately, but now Rory was forced to suffer because of it. The situation in their dorm was getting tense. Janet, a runner, woke up every day at 5:30 am to work out in the common room, and do whatever else it is that runner's do. Unfortunately for Rory, Paris was a light sleeper, and so the grunting that came with Janet's early morning workouts would wake Paris up. Paris was not someone who took losing sleep very well, and so many an argument had been started out of these circumstances. The resulting arguments usually woke Rory and Tana up as well. Soon the arguments had escalated into an all out war zone in Durfee suite 5, making it a very unsafe place for anyone to enter.

On this particular, Paris had stayed up most of the night working on a lab report. When Janet woke Paris up, Paris had decided to turn off Rory's alarm. Needless to say, Paris was in more of a rage than usual that morning, and now Rory was stuck dealing with the consequences.

The past couple of weeks had been weird enough for Rory as it was. On her last visit to Stars Hollow, she had accidentally found herself in the middle of her ex boyfriend Dean's wedding. The incident had shaken her feathers slightly. She was over Dean, of course, but it still wasn't easy seeing her ex marrying someone else; especially when she thought that they were rushing into things in the first place. In any case, she had opted out of going to the wedding on the advice of Luke, avoiding what could be another very awkward situation.

The invitation from Dean had been awkward enough as it was, but Rory hadn't been able to figure out how to say no. She was trying to be friends with Dean, wasn't she? And friends go to their friends weddings. But Luke managed to convince her not to go, although Rory loitered around the town square long enough to see the happy couple exiting the church together.

Rory had been in a bit of a funk ever since, and the war that was slowly escalating wasn't helping matters. Waking up late that Tuesday morning was not making things better either. If Rory missed breakfast because of Paris, (and on waffle bar day, no less) there would be hell to pay. She was _not_ the kind of person who could skip a meal and still be a pleasant person to be around.

Having only five minutes to make it to breakfast before the Dining Hall closed, Rory ran out of her room, still in her pajamas, pausing only long enough to throw on a bathrobe and slippers.

She arrived just as they were taking food away, leaving practically nothing left for her to eat. _Please let there be coffee_, Rory silently begged as she grabbed an empty mug and placed it under the coffee canister. She pulled the lever and nothing came out, causing Rory to groan in frustration.

Barely any food and no coffee. "This day just keeps getting better and better," she mumbled to herself, a disgruntled look on her face.

As if the entire universe were working against her that morning, the last people she would ever want to run into her under dressed and under caffeinated happened to spot her just as she turned around with her empty mug of coffee.

"Rory!" It was a female voice, coming from the table next to where she was standing. It took her a moment to match the face to a name in her mind, as she was still trying to bring herself out of the half asleep fog her brain seemed stuck in due to lack of caffeinated beverages.

"Steph," said Rory, slightly surprised. She hadn't seen the girl or her friends since that night when she found Finn passed out in her common room. It wasn't that Rory had forgotten about it. In all honesty, Rory was having trouble believing that the whole thing really happened. The story seemed so crazy that she half thought she made the whole thing up in some kind of sleepy haze. Since she hadn't seen any of those involved that night around campus, Rory had nearly convinced herself that the whole thing was just a very vivid dream. But here Steph was, sitting in the Dining Hall having breakfast. And she wasn't alone.

"Pajamas again I see," said the blonde guy with a smirk. It took Rory a moment to remember that his name was Logan. "I'm starting to think that you don't own any other clothes."

"Um. No, I own real clothes."

Logan's eyes roamed over her body, his smile growing wider. "Right."

"No really, I do." Rory's annoyance was growing. She wasn't in any mood to put up with this right now. "It's just, my roommate turned off my alarm this morning, and I was about to miss breakfast. And apparently, I didn't really need to rush, because they're out of coffee, making this whole embarrassing encounter completely pointless." She was rambling nervously, but she was unable to stop herself. She was tired and hungry, and in desperate need of coffee.

"You can have mine if you want," Steph offered, pushing a full mug towards her. "It might be a bit cool by now, but it's my third cup and I'm probably not going to drink it."

Rory's eyes widened, her mouth dropping open in surprise. This girl was sent directly from heaven for the sole purpose of caffeinating her, Rory was sure of it. "You sure?" she asked, but her hand was already reaching for the mug, and she took a large gulp before Steph even had a chance to respond. It was still slightly warm, but it hardly mattered to Rory at this point as she downed half the glass quickly.

"Hey, why don't you join us?" Steph suggested, gesturing to the empty seat next to her.

"Yeah, have a seat," Logan added. "We can continue this discussion of your various states of dress and undress."

"Logan – " Steph warned.

"What?" he asked, trying to keep his voice sounding innocent. He knew that he was heading for trouble, but Logan couldn't help himself. Rory had shown up, looking flustered and annoyed, which Logan thought only made her look more attractive. He didn't see any harm in simply pushing her buttons, particularly when he didn't plan on acting on his implications in the first place. It was a fine line he was dancing with, between flirting and inappropriate. He figured that keeping things playful was the best course of action in this situation.

"All I'm saying is that pajamas are a good look for you. Now, do you have other variations of this style, or are you more of a footsie pajama's kind of girl? Unless you're into something a bit more risqué. In which case, by all means, feel free to share your wardrobe choices with us."

Rory wasn't sure if she felt more embarrassed or enraged. His tone implied so much more than just what he was saying. He was practically inviting her to strip down into some sexy lingerie and hop into bed with him. In any case, she was far too cranky to deal with this right now.

Without bothering to respond, Rory turned on her heel and headed for the door with her food, walking quickly so as to get far away from him before she said something she'd be embarrassed about later.

Steph glared at Logan. "What did you do that for?" she asked.

"What are you talking about? I was just teasing her. You know I was kidding, right?"

Logan didn't see what the big deal was. Rory was just some random freshman that he'd only seen twice in his life. What was the harm in being a little playful? The girl looked cute when she was squirming. He hadn't said or done anything _too_ inappropriate, had he?

"Of course _I_ know that, but she didn't! Not every girl thinks you're open flirting is cute. Idiot! You scared the poor girl away!" Giving him one last death glare, Steph stood up and chased after Rory, leaving Logan sitting alone at their table.

* * *

><p>"Rory, wait up!" Steph called just as Rory was exiting the building. Rory stopped walking only when Steph finally caught up to her.<p>

"Hey, I'm sorry about my friend. He sometimes forgets that not everyone thinks he's so charming right off the bat," Steph apologized. She truly meant it, too. Normally Steph wouldn't really care how many girls Logan, Colin, and Finn pissed off. In fact, the more the merrier. She rather enjoyed watching them get drinks thrown in their faces. But there was something familiar about the girl, and she couldn't put her finger on why that was. Steph had been racking her brain ever since the night that Rory found Finn naked in her common room, trying to figure out why Rory seemed so familiar.

Rory shrugged. "It's okay. I'm a little cranky this morning already. My roommates are fighting, and I haven't had any coffee, and then when I went home the other weekend I was almost in the middle of my ex boyfriend's wedding; that was fun. Really, I'm just not in the mood to deal with people right now. Especially people that annoy me."

"Well, I'm sorry nonetheless. Logan's harmless, I swear."

Rory gave her a skeptical look. "I don't think that _any_ of those boys from the other night are harmless."

"Alright, they're _mostly _harmless."

Rory chuckled softly, rolling her eyes. "I've really got to get going. I have class, and I'd like to attend it wearing something other than slippers with bunnies on them."

"Right, of course you do. We'll talk another time."

Rory doubted that. She wasn't about to willingly put herself through another awkward run in with Steph's male friends.

"Sure, maybe," she said, although her tone implied that Rory had no intensions of getting together with Steph any time soon.

"No really, I mean it. That's twice now that my male friends have inconvenienced you. I owe you a drink at the very least as repayment for their crimes against all womankind."

This, at least, made Rory smile.

"So give me a call if you need anything," Steph continued. "And I promise I'll leave the boys at home."

Rory hesitated. Steph seemed like a nice enough girl, despite the company she kept. The question was whether or not she'd really be able to keep her male counterparts at bay.

But who was Rory to say no to someone who seemed to be making a genuine effort to befriend her?

"Why not?" Rory finally agreed. "I'll give you a call sometime."

* * *

><p>Logan could tell that Steph had calmed down a bit since storming away from him to chase down Rory, but he probably still had some major groveling ahead of him. He really didn't understand Steph sometimes. It wasn't like Logan was acting in any way different than he normally acted around girls. True, usually he reserved such open flirtations to girls he had interacted with a bit more, but it had been just too easy for him to resist. He usually kept away from the bright eyed and bushy tailed freshman, being as they were the ones the least likely to allow him to follow through with his flirting. Innocence did not normally mesh well with his chosen lifestyle. But the temptation had been too great for him. Her annoyance only added to her attractiveness, a quality he found rare in most girls. So what was the harm when he knew nothing would come of it, especially when he was enjoying himself?<p>

Perhaps he should have backed off like Steph had asked him to. He hadn't meant anything by his comments. But it didn't really matter now.

"So, is all right with the world?" Logan asked when Steph rejoined him at the table.

"You couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you? You just _have_ to flirt with every girl with a vagina that walks by. Come on, Logan, you could tell that she was uncomfortable!"

Logan shrugged. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"One, you don't need to make it your mission in life to sleep with every girl at Yale, especially ones who don't find you charming. And two, she looks familiar, and I can't figure out why. It's bothering me."

"Yeah, you met her at the beginning of the semester when we had to go fetch Finn from her common room. I thought you were sober that night, how could you forget?"

Steph shook her head. "No, that's not it. There's something else. I thought so the other night too. Don't you think she looks familiar? I feel like we've seen her before."

Logan only shrugged. "When could we have seen her before? She's a freshman. She didn't grow up in society; otherwise we'd already know her."

That's when it suddenly hit Steph. "I've got it!" she exclaimed, slapping the table to emphasize her point. "Remember last April, when the Gilmore's threw that impromptu party that our parents dragged us to?"

How could Logan forget? His parents were so drunk that night they had forgotten to yell at Logan for disappearing to form a subparty.

"That was a good night," Logan said with a grin. "Finn got shut down by Rosemary twelve times that night. You've gotta admire his persistency sometimes."

"Right. And we snuck into Richard's study to steal some scotch. He has an oil painting on his wall of his granddaughter. _That's_ her! She's a _Gilmore_!"

Logan was floored. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense. If she's a Gilmore, why don't we know her? My mother is on about a thousand committees with Emily. I've been to their Christmas parties before. We'd have met her already."

"No we wouldn't have," Steph insisted. "See, you don't pay enough attention to the gossip."

"Why would I when I have you and Honor to fill me in? I don't care about any of that crap."

Steph rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up and let me talk. The story is that Richard and Emily's daughter, Lorelai, got pregnant when she was sixteen. And then she just took off; raised the kid all on her own in some small town, away from society. Lorelai only came back a few years ago when her daughter got into Chilton."

"That prep school in Hartford?"

"Right. You remember Tristan DuGrey? He was practically in love with her, but she would have none of it. She kept turning him down."

Logan smirked. He'd never liked Tristan. The guy always thought he was better than Logan, when really he was just an annoying, rude little prick. He couldn't charm his way out of a paper bag. "She has good taste; Tristan's an ass. He tried so hard to get kicked out of school, but he could never manage it. Got sent to military school instead. What a rookie."

"Not the point. Not everyone can be you, Logan." It was true, Tristan did often try to act the way Logan did. The difference is that with Logan, making trouble and still being on the top of everyone's 'nice' list came naturally to Logan, whereas Tristan tried too hard. It was part of why Steph liked Logan so much. Logan was a lot more genuine. At least when he wanted to be. Logan knew where the line was and when not to cross it.

"Anyway," Step continued, "ever since she started at Chilton, Lorelai and her daughter have been around a lot more. I think the Gilmore's are trying to properly integrate her into society; she even had a coming out party I believe. And the Gilmore's are always going on and on about their perfect angel of a granddaughter Rory; Emily won't shut up about it. She's always telling my mom about how amazing the girl is. _That's_ her, Logan! I'm sure of it."

Now that Steph brought it up, his memory started unfog a bit, connecting the dots to bits and pieces of information he'd received throughout the years. He remembered that party in April, and briefly having Richard bombard his father with anecdotes about his brilliant granddaughter, who wanted to be the next Christiane Amanpour. Logan had escaped shortly after that to form his subparty out of fear that his father would start in on him about his lack of journalistic aspirations.

Logan smirked. Now there were even more chances of having a run in with her. His parents were very good friends with the Gilmore's. It was almost guaranteed that he'd see her again at some point in time. His tactics needed to change, of course. She wasn't his usual type of girl, and she didn't grow up in society, although she had some experience with interacting in it. He'd have to figure out exactly how he wanted to play his next encounter with her.

Not that he was going to try anything with her. Really, he just enjoyed pushing the girl's buttons. It was that look she got in her eyes when she was flustered. He wasn't used to girls feeling so uneasy around him, and her reaction was rather amusing.

"I know what you're thinking," Steph finally said, interrupting his thoughts. "Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Leave her alone, Logan! The last thing you need to do is piss off the Gilmore's."

Steph really had very little faith in Logan. "What do you think I'm going to do, Steph? I'm not trying to sleep with her."

But Steph knew him better than to accept that answer as final. "Fine, if you're not trying to sleep with her, then why can't you just let her be? You _know_ that the way you were talking to her made her uncomfortable. What's the big deal with letting this one go?"

Logan shrugged. "Look, it's not like I'm going out of my way to piss her off here. She's a cute girl, and it was fun watching her squirm when I teased her. That's it."

She looked at him skeptically. "That's it?"

"_That's it!_" Logan insisted.

Steph wasn't really buying it, but she didn't have enough evidence to really press the matter. She knew how Logan worked. She knew that there was a line of girls waiting to get to him, meaning that he could practically have his pick of girls a Yale, ones that would be far less work than a girl like Rory. He claimed that his reasons for wanting to flirt with Rory were harmless, and Steph didn't believe him. It shouldn't really matter to Logan if he left this _one_ girl alone, especially since he had no immediate plans to sleep with her.

That was another problem. Rory was clueless to Logan's games. There was no telling how she would react to him. Maybe the whole thing was just one big game to Logan, but this game had the potential to end badly. It turned out that Rory wasn't just someone they could avoid outright if Logan did something stupid. But what could Steph do? If Logan didn't see what problems his little game might cause, then that was his own issue. Steph wasn't about to interfere with Logan on this one, at least until she'd gathered a bit more information.

For now, she'd wait.

"Look, if it really bothers you so much, I'll lighten up," Logan finally said. He only half meant it.

Steph frowned. "No you won't; don't patronize me, Logan."

"No I will, I promise. The next time I see her, I won't make any suggestive comments about her clothing."

It was the most Steph could ask for at the moment. She'd let him screw this one up on his own, then laugh at him later.


	3. Unadulterated Loathing

**A/N:** I think you guys are really going to enjoy this chapter. It's incredibly long, longer than I expected. But I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. Enjoy!

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Three – Unadulterated Loathing<span>

In all honesty, Rory hadn't really expected to call Steph for anything, especially so soon after their run in. But a lot of things made Rory rethink the whole situation. More specifically though was Rory's current dilemma as to what to wear on her date tonight.

Originally, Rory had brushed off the encounter, wanting to put the whole bad morning behind her. So naturally, things only got worse as the day went on. It started out slightly awkward when a boy named Trevor from her English class asked her to dinner that Saturday, but Rory decided to politely turn him down. He just wasn't her type. To start with, he was a bit too preppy for her taste. True, he supported her points of view during class discussion, but what would happen if things didn't go well? And she already knew that he planned to study in Barcelona next year, so nothing could really come out of it anyway.

Things seemed to go a bit more smoothly after that, until later that evening when Rory was doing her laundry. Apparently she had waited a bit too long to retrieve her clothes from the dryer. There were her nice clean clothes, tossed haphazardly all over the dirty laundry room floor. Rory grumbled in frustration as she threw her clothes into her laundry basket. She'd have to wash them all over again now. This additional annoyance did wonders for her mood.

At that point, Rory just needed to get away from New Haven for a little while. Between Paris and Janet's bickering, her embarrassing encounters with boys, and the time she wasted doing laundry, Rory was tired of other people. So Rory packed up her car with her laundry and the books she needed for that night's bout of studying, and headed back to Stars Hollow for the evening to rewash her clothes.

It was Lorelai, naturally, who had her rethinking the way she'd been conducting herself around guys lately. Rory had just finished telling her mom about Paris and Janet's quest to murder each other when the story was brought around to her run in with Steph and Logan that morning.

"It was humiliating, and awkward, and a couple other adjectives thrown in."

"Which one is Logan again?" Lorelai asked.

"The blonde one who you claimed was checking me out."

"So not naked guy?"

"No, not naked guy. Naked guy is the Australian."

"Right, got it. Well, sounds to me like he's still checking you out. Twice while in your pajamas, I have major respect for you."

Rory wasn't in the mood for this conversation. She picked up the laundry basket that she'd previously dropped on the floor, carrying it into the kitchen in an attempt to put up her laundry. Of course, this tactic didn't work on Lorelai, who followed her daughter and refused to drop the subject.

"So are you interested?" Lorelai asked.

Rory sighed. It was just like her mother to poke the topic with a stick, not allowing Rory to put it to rest.

She placed her laundry basket down on the kitchen table and took a seat in one of the chairs, turning to face her mother. Lorelai pulled out a chair as well, settling herself in for what looked like a difficult conversation with her daughter, mostly because Rory seemed to be in a stubborn mood.

"I don't see what difference that makes," Rory said, pushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear and folding her arms across her chest. "Steph pretty much said that he doesn't mean anything by it."

Lorelai raised her eyebrows. "Hmm…"

She knew that look. "What?"

"What is it really, Rory? Is he not cute?"

Rory blushed. "No. Objectively he's… very attractive." There was no use in denying that fact; Lorelai would see right through her. Logan was one of those people whose blonde hair accomplished that perfectly messy look; he could probably roll out of bed each morning, hair sticking up in weird directions, and still manage to look good. He was clean cut and a sharp dresser. But it was his smile that really did it. Rory could tell from the way he smirked at her that he was used to girls going weak at the knees with that smile.

It was part of the reason Rory didn't flat out hate him. His words made her feel uncomfortable, but that smile through her off. She'd never seen anyone with such a perfect smile before. It was hard to hate someone who could smile at you like that. One flash of those perfect, white teeth and you could forget why it was you were angry in the first place.

Rory wasn't going to be played by that smile. She wouldn't be one of those girls who just fell for every boy who so much as smiled in her direction. Rory could – and _would_ – rise about it.

"Okay, so what's the problem?" Lorelai asked.

"He's just…"

"Oh my god," interjected Lorelai. "If you say that he's not your type, I swear – "

"He's just trying to push my buttons; that's all," Rory ended lamely. "It's really not a big deal at all. I'm making the whole thing seem more than it was. He's spoken maybe five sentences to me, all of which contained some kind of innuendo. He's doesn't mean anything by it."

Lorelai's forehead wrinkled in thought, as though she didn't really believe Rory's rationalization.

"Fine, Logan's a no go. Are there any other prospects, then? What about Naked Guy, or that other kid?"

"One, I haven't seen either of them since that night. Two, if Logan's night my type, his friends are even less my type. Three, there _was_ this guy named Trevor from my English class who asked me to try out this restaurant with him on Saturday, but it was completely casual. I told him I have plans."

"So not cute, huh?"

"Why is that your response every time I say I'm not interested in a boy?"

Lorelai sighed. Where to begin? "I'm just trying to figure out why you're being so resistant. Hun, I know you've never really dated – "

"What are you talking about? I've _dated_!"

"No, you haven't. You've had relationships; that is _not_ dating."

Rory did _not_ like the way this conversation was going. "Yeah, well. You don't date either!"

"Of course I do!"

"Oh really? Who have you dated?"

It took Lorelai a while to come up with an answer for her daughter. "Oh! What about that guy from my business class? Or that really bad date I went on with that guy from the auction? The one where mom _forced_ me to go on a second date with him because she's friends with his mom."

"You just brought up _two_ examples of really bad dates."

"Okay, what about Alex? We dated."

"You went away with him for a weekend! And you broke up after you kissed Max, remember?"

"But it was never really serious. And all of that is beside the point; we're talking about you here. The _point_ is, I have dated. And, while I may not be the best example here, you've gotta go on some bad dates to find the really good ones. Max and I started out just dating, and it would have _never_ turned into a relationship if we hadn't. So you're not into Steph's friends; that's fine. What about the guy who asked you on a date?"

"Trevor," Rory corrected.

"Right. How do you know that Trevor's not something special if you don't at least have dinner with him? If it's not right, no big deal."

Rory knew she had lost this round. "I _hate _dating."

Lorelai reached across the table, touching Rory's hand comfortingly. "I know, kid. You've been very lucky with guys. They've always just sort of been there. It was bound to get a little harder eventually."

So despite her initial reservations, Rory agreed to the date with Trevor. She was actually quite impressed with the way in which she made it known to him that she had reconsidered his offer. Unfortunately, it wasn't until she was getting ready for the date that she realized that she had no idea what to wear, and no clue who to ask.

Her roommates were no help. Paris was obviously out. Besides the fact that she was on the warpath lately, Paris had come to Rory on more than one occasion with the same problem that she was having now. Then there was Janet, whom Rory had rarely seen wearing anything other than athletic apparel. Janet might be of some assistance to her, but Rory wasn't about to get in the middle of her fight with Paris. That left Tana, who was barely capable of dressing herself, let alone someone else.

It was out of desperation that Rory called Steph, who immediately rushed over to Rory's aid.

"Thanks for coming," said Rory when she answered the door, stepping aside to allow Steph to enter.

"Of course." Steph was grinning widely. Dressing up for dates was her specialty. "You called the right person for advice. Where's your room?"

"It's this way." Rory lead the girl to her bedroom, where Paris was sitting at her desk attempting to study. Attempting being the key word, since Paris had just thrown her pen across the room angrily.

"Who are you?" Paris questioned, glaring at Steph suspiciously.

Rory sighed. "Ignore her. Paris, this is Steph. Steph, my roommate Paris. Steph's here to help me pick out something to wear for my date."

"Hey – " Steph began, but before she could finish whatever it was she intended to say, Paris gathered her things up and headed to the common room.

"Don't forget about the roommate meeting!" Paris yelled abrasively as she slammed the door behind her.

Steph turned to look Rory, a questioning look on her face. "Wow. That was…"

Further expansion was unnecessary. "I know."

"Is she always like that?"

"Most of the time, yes. It's pretty bad right now though. My other roommate, Janet, gets up at 5:30 every morning to go running, and Paris is such a light sleeper that it wakes her up. Then they argue and wake the rest of us up; it's a vicious cycle."

"Hence the roommate meeting."

Rory nodded. "That's only half the story. Paris has this craft corner to help calm her nerves; believe it or not she was much worse when we were in high school."

"You were friends with her in high school?"

"I'm not sure if 'friends' is the correct word to describe us. I've known Paris for three years – we spent most of that time fighting. Anyway, the smell from Paris's glue gun drives Janet insane. It's practically World War 3 in here."

Steph took a seat on Rory's bed. "Wow. I can see why you didn't want to Paris up that night with Finn. But enough about her; tell me about the guy."

Rory pulled her desk chair around to face Steph, sitting opposite her. "Right. His name's Trevor. Tall, really dark hair. He's in my English class. He always takes my sides in the debates, but that could mean anything. And he's pretty preppy."

"Where's he taking you?"

"Pancia di Lucca."

Steph bit her lip in concentration. "Right. So you'll want something more on the casual side, but nothing too casual." Without another word, Steph sprung up from the bed and began rummaging through Rory's wardrobe, muttering quietly to herself. At first, she didn't pull anything out as she quickly glanced at each article of clothing in turn. After considering every article of clothing Rory owned, Steph dove back in and pulled out a coral top, a white sweater, and a khaki skirt with a set of black buttons down the front.

"Put this on while I find you some shoes," Steph insisted.

But Rory hesitated. She wasn't sure how comfortable she felt getting changed in front of a girl she hardly knew.

Steph sensed reluctance. "Oh my god, what are you, twelve? If it makes you feel any better, I won't look while you get changed."

Rory sighed. Of course she was being silly. Before she had a chance to feel embarrassed, Rory pulled her clothes off in exchange for the new outfit as Steph rummaged through her extensive shoe collection.

"You don't do this very often, do you?" Steph asked when Rory was properly dressed. Steph gave her a quick once over as she handed Rory a pair of flats, nodding in approval.

"How can you tell?" Rory asked. Did her body language really show her inexperience?

"You've got the pre date jitters."

Rory sighed. "No, I haven't really done much dating. I'm more of a relationship person."

The comment made Steph laugh. Of _course_ Logan would choose to casually flirt with a girl who didn't _do_ casual. She really hoped that he meant it when he said that he was just teasing Rory for the hell of it. He didn't stand a chance with her.

The laughter threw Rory off. "Well, I'm glad the fact that I don't date much is so amusing to you."

"Sorry," Steph said, shaking her head slightly to clear it. She needed to recover from her screw up. "I'm just so used to hanging around guys who treat relationships like the Bubonic Plague. You know – any sign of commitment and they run away screaming. This is refreshing."

It seemed that Rory got her answer as to that little piece of the puzzle. She now knew, without a shadow of doubt, that any possible signs of flirtation she might have witnessed from Logan didn't mean anything. It didn't really matter to Rory one way or the other. At least now she knew that Logan was just another arrogant jerk not to be taken seriously. It would make any future encounters with him much less awkward for Rory, knowing where she stood.

"You mentioned an ex boyfriend," Steph continued. "What happened to him?"

"Dean? We dated for about two years. He was my first boyfriend; first kiss. First crush too, really."

Steph motioned for Rory to sit down in her desk chair again as she pulled Rory's makeup bag onto the bed. Rory obliged, allowing Steph to put on her makeup.

"Was he your first time?" Steph asked as she dabbed concealer over Rory's face.

"No!" Rory exclaimed a bit too loudly, jerking away slightly.

Steph raised her hands up in surrender. "Hey, just trying to get to know you a bit here. So why'd you guys break up?"

Rory relaxed a little bit. "I sort of started having feelings for this other guy, Jess. But Jess was so standoffish and he ran hot and cold all the time, so I could never really figure out if there was really something going on or if I was just imagining it. Eventually Dean got fed up and dumped me in front of the entire town at a dance marathon; it was humiliating."

"But you got together with Jess?"

Rory nodded.

"And did you sleep with him?"

"Um. No," Rory stammered, blushing slightly. "Once we almost…but it wasn't the right time. We were upstairs at this party and I got freaked out, and then somehow it lead to this huge fight. At the time I thought it was because I stopped him, but he was going through some other stuff. He found out that he wasn't going to graduate, and instead of talking to me about it he just…took off. I haven't seen him since."

"Just like that? He just left?"

"Didn't say a word. I think he called me a couple of times, but he never said anything. That was it."

Rory wasn't sure why she was telling Steph all this. In all honesty, it just felt good to talk to someone about it why didn't know anything about the situation. Someone who wouldn't judge her, or Jess, based on everything that they knew about the two. And it was nice to talk about it now that she had some distance and perspective on the situation.

"So…" Steph said as she rummaged through Rory's makeup looking for some eye shadow. "Does that mean you're still a virgin?"

Rory's blush was answer enough.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed. You've never had sex, and I've never had a relationship that's lasted longer than a couple of months. No big."

"Oh joy, what a great consolation prize," Rory muttered as Steph brushed the eyeshadow carefully over her eyelids.

Steph was smiling in glee. She changed her mind. Now, she wanted nothing more than to see Logan attempt to charm his way into Rory's bed, just so she could watch what would inevitably be the resulting slap across his face.

"So why the sudden urge to start 'dating' if it's not your thing?" Steph asked, trying to change the subject. She pulled out Rory's mascara and began applying it carefully.

"I dunno. Something my mom said. She said that the only way to find the ones who are worth it is to go on a bunch of really crappy dates."

"Your mother is a wise woman."

"You have no idea. Anyway, Trevor asked me, so I figured, what do I have to lose? Plus, Jess and I broke up months ago. It's probably about time I get back out there and go out with someone else."

As Steph searched for some lipgloss for Rory, she figured she had a pretty good idea as to this girl's personality. She seemed a little cautious, but not so cautious that she wouldn't try something that made her feel a little uncomfortable. If Rory really hadn't wanted to go on the date, she wouldn't be doing so.

"Well, I think you're all set," Steph finally said as she handed Rory the correct lipgloss for the occasion.

Rory let out a huge breath. "Thanks for your help. Really."

"Any time." Steph rose from her seat on the bed. "And hey, call me when the date's over, okay? I want to hear how it went."

The sound of Paris's fists pounding on the door interrupted them.

"Roommate meeting – _now_, Gilmore!"

Rory sighed. "You better go. I don't think you want to be around for this. I'll call you afterwards."

* * *

><p>The minute Steph stepped out of Rory's room, she felt her phone buzzing in her purse. It was then that Steph remembered she was supposed to meet the guys at the Pub right about…well, now.<p>

"Are you coming out with us tonight?" the sound of Colin's voice rang loudly in her ear. "It's my turn to watch Finn and I need a buffer."

"Why does it have to me?" Steph asked as she walked briskly out of the building and heading towards their usual bar. "It's not my turn to watch him."

"Because you won't be just helping me, you'll be protecting Rosemary. Finn is determined that tonight is the night Rosemary will _finally_ agree to go home with him. He's very persistent tonight."

"How many times can one girl say, 'no' before he takes a hint?"

"Don't know, don't care. Just hurry up and get here already. Finn's on his way to getting pretty drunk; I'm not sure I'll be able to keep him in check on my own tonight."

Steph sighed. "I'll be there soon."

* * *

><p>Logan took a long swig of his scotch, downing most of the glass quickly. It had been a long, stressful week for him. His father had started putting the pressure on Logan to write some articles for the Yale Daily News, just like he did every year. But Logan hated the paper. It reminded him too much of the life he wanted nothing to do with, I only because it was his preordained destiny. Logan wasn't sure how much longer he could put off dealing with his father before Mitchum pounding on Logan's door himself, making sure that Logan knew exactly how big of a screw up he was.<p>

He took some heart in the fact that it was now Saturday, and he was coping with the situation by a night of drinking with all his friends.

Steph plopped down at the table that where Colin and Finn were sitting.

"Hey, where've you been?" Logan asked.

A mischievous grin flashed across her face. "I had to help a friend get ready for a date. You know, girl stuff."

Logan tossed a sidelong glance at Colin. Steph was being cryptic, which could only mean trouble. "Everyone's here, who was it?"

"You don't know everything about my life, Logan. I do on occasion interact with people that you don't."

"What are you talking about?" asked Colin. "We see you every day. We have the same friends."

But Steph wasn't giving in. "So where's Finn?" she asked, attempting to change the subject.

Colin pointed across the room to where Finn was attempting to dance with Rosemary, who was having none of it. She skillfully avoided his touch every time he tried to reach out and pull her closer.

Steph rolled her eyes. "I'm on it." Leaving her purse behind at the table, Logan watched as Steph sauntered across the room to join Rosemary, successfully pulling her out of Finn's reach. Relief passed across Rosemary's face as Steph kept herself between Finn and Rosemary, although this did nothing to discourage him.

"Do you get the feeling that Steph is up to something?" Colin asked as the two watched their friend strike out with Rosemary for what must have been the hundredth time.

Logan shrugged. "Possibly." But he didn't care enough to enquire further. Instead, Logan signaled a waitress over to their table, instructing her to send a drink over to the leggy blonde sitting at the edge of the bar.

* * *

><p>The date was awful, there was no other way to describe it. It started out awkward, with Rory managing to successfully put an end to every single conversation Trevor had attempted to start. But the awkward just continued from there. They were sitting on the same side of the table, and even Lorelai's suggestion of making up a fake draft in order to move to the other side had backfired. Although Rory's nerves had somehow calmed down a bit as the date wore on, it hadn't worked out.<p>

Oh well. Not every date was going to be a good one.

Rory collapsed on the couch the minute Trevor dropped her back at her dorm, grateful that the whole experience was over. The suite was miraculously silent. She assumed that her roommates had all gone out for the night after the Roommate Meeting drama; a small blessing for her.

She thought about heading to Stars Hollow to tell her mom about the rest of the date; maybe catch the end of movie night. But then Rory thought about how nice Steph had been to her earlier. She had helped Rory get ready, and let her vent a little bit about her ex boyfriends without really prying too much. It had been nice having a sympathetic ear to talk to face to face. But more importantly, it was nice talking to someone about Dean and Jess who'd never actually met Dean and Jess, and therefore had no preexisting opinions about the situation.

Maybe Rory could overlook her choice in friends for the time being.

Remembering that she was supposed to call Steph, Rory took out her cell phone and gave her a call.

It was noisy on the other end of the line. Rory could barely Steph over the sound of the music playing in the background.

"Hey, how'd the date go?" Steph yelled.

Rory frowned at the noise. "Where are you? It's so loud."

"I'm at the Pub. Where are you, in your dorm?"

"Um, yeah. The date sucked. Go outside so I can talk to you for a minute."

"Sorry, can't. I'm trying to keep Finn away from Rosemary, I can't leave now."

"Who's Rosemary?"

"Just come meet me here," Steph insisted, ignoring Rory's inquiry. "Come on, I could really use the help. Finn's feeling really aggressive today, and alcohol's only making him more determined."

She hesitated. Rory wasn't really sure that she wanted to go back out.

"Come on, Rory. Please? Come hang out!"

Rory sighed. "Okay, I'll be there soon."

* * *

><p>Things were going very well for Logan that night. So far, he knew three things about the blonde girl at the bar: her name is Tiffany, she was a sophomore, and she was <em>very<em> interested in sleeping with Logan. It was almost too easy, really. The least amount of work he'd ever had to do in order to take a girl home.

It wasn't for lack of trying though. Logan tried to at the very least find out what her major was, but Tiffany had somehow managed to steer the conversation away to other things, such as implying that she would very much like to see Logan's yacht. It was the only indication he needed to know that she was only interested in him because of his last name. That was fine; Logan was only interested in her because she had nice legs.

It was too bad; Logan could use a couple additional girls to bring with him as dates to boring functions his father forced him to go to. Unfortunately, Tiffany wasn't going to be one of them. No, this girl was only going to be a onetime thing. Logan would be bored with her by tomorrow morning.

Colin approached Logan and Tiffany at the bar cautiously.

"Hey, isn't that the girl who found Finn naked?" he asked, gesturing towards the brunette standing in the doorway.

Logan smirked. This night just got far more interesting. "Yeah, her name's Rory. Wonder what she's doing here."

But Logan knew what she was doing there. He put together Steph's mysterious behavior from earlier that night with Rory's sudden appearance, and it all added up. Now Logan's interest was piqued. He wondered why all the secrecy.

Across the room, Rory glanced around in search of Steph. She was easy enough to spot, being the only girl who was forcibly holding a guy away from a second girl.

"So when you said that you're having Finn trouble, this wasn't the picture in my head," Rory said when she wove her way through the crowd of people to reach Steph.

Steph rolled her eyes. "It's not even my turn. He's just being _very_ unreasonable today."

"I resent that!" Finn said. "But I am willing to forgive you, love, on account of I _will_ be going home with Rosemary tonight."

The redheaded girl that Steph had been trying to keep Finn away from took a step closer. "And this is Rosemary telling you that that's _not_ going to happen, Finn!"

"Finn, why don't you find someone else?" Rory suggested. "There are plenty of other girls in this bar."

He turned to face Rory, a confused look on his face, as though he'd suddenly just realized she was standing there.

"Do I know you?"

Rory blinked. Was be he being serious?

"You met her a few weeks ago, Finn!" Steph said in an exasperated tone. "You were passed out naked in her common room."

But Finn just stared.

"I had to call Colin and Logan to help carry you home!"

"Right," he said, although it was clear from his tone that he only half remembered the situation.

"Rory's right," Steph continued. "There are plenty of other girls out tonight. Why don't you take one of them home?"

"They're not redheads."

Rory casually pointed towards a table in the far corner. "There's one right over there."

Steph was impressed. Not everyone could just waltz in and have a handle on Finn. Rory was a natural.

"There, see? Go talk to that one. Save Rosemary for another time."

Without waiting for a response, Steph grabbed Rory and Rosemary each by the hand, leading them over to the previously abandoned table.

"Thank you!" said Rosemary as the girls sat down. "You're a lifesaver. Seriously, I'm having a monument built in your honor tomorrow."

"It was nothing," she replied, although she was smiling slightly.

"No way, that was impressive," insisted Steph. "That's another one I owe you. Let me buy you a drink; what'll you have?"

"Just a cappuccino, please."

"Rosemary?"

"Something alcoholic and strong," said Rosemary.

Steph smiled and made her way over to the bar to order.

* * *

><p>Logan had watched the whole interaction from his spot at the bar. He was only half paying attention to Tiffany, which was an easy feat considering that the girl was saying nothing for consequence. Colin had begun speaking with Tiffany's friend, making it even easier for Logan to avoid participation in the conversation. A well placed "yeah" and "uh huh" turned out to be all he really needed to act like he was paying attention. It didn't matter, anyway. He'd still be going home with Tiffany when the night was over. In the mean time, he could afford having a bit of fun pushing Rory's buttons.<p>

He took his opportunity when he saw Steph slip away from the table towards the bar, leaving Rory alone with Rosemary.

Logan finished off the rest of his scotch, placing the empty glass back down on the bar. "I'll be right back."

* * *

><p>"So you're the infamous Rory," said Rosemary in a rather suggestive tone. "Huh. Not what I expected."<p>

Rory shrugged. "What exactly were you expecting? Wonder Woman? What did Steph tell you, anyway?"

"Not much, really. You found Finn, you didn't call the cops. You helped Steph get him out of your room. Logan made you uncomfortable. Twice. That's all Steph told me."

"That about sums it up," Rory said lamely, blushing slightly.

"Don't worry about it, Logan does that all the time."

"He seems kind of…"

"Cute?" Rosemary asked.

"Um, no."

Rosemary raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Steph had already filled her in on the unusual way Logan was behaving in the two run-in's he'd had with Rory. In a whispered conversation they'd had while waiting for Rory to show up, Steph and Rosemary had decided to fill Rory in on a few choice facts about Logan, mostly in the hopes of seeing him get slapped across the face.

"No?" she questioned.

"Well I mean, I guess yeah. But I was going to say arrogant."

Rosemary laughed. "That's just part of his confidence. His head isn't nearly as big as it seems. His arrogance comes from the fact that he doesn't really have to try to pick up girls."

Rory frowned. "Oh come on. "

"No really," Rosemary insisted. "There's a line to get to him. _Although,_" she said, her voice trailing off slightly as she glanced off towards the bar. "It seems that he's taken a particular interest in you."

"Huh?"

Before Rosemary could respond, Logan slid smoothly into the seat next to Rory, the one that Steph had abandoned moments before.

She reminded herself of what she'd heard from Steph, and what Rosemary had just told her. He was a compulsive flirt who picked up girls because it was fun, not because he had any interest in them. Rory wasn't going to let him charm his way into her head just because he's good looking.

"So I take it Finn struck out again," said Logan with a grin, looking directly at Rosemary and completely ignoring Rory.

Rosemary rolled his eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "If that boy seriously thinks he'll wear me down, he has another thing coming."

"So you've said."

Logan turned to face Rory then, smirking. "Rory, nice to see you again. And properly dressed, I see."

"Well, all of my pajamas are in the laundry. Darn."

Logan had to admit, the girl had spunk. While the sight of her in pajamas amused him, he definitely was enjoying this vision of her all dressed up. He tried not to stare down at the long expanse of her exposed legs, remembering his promise to Steph to at least _try_ to behave.

"So what brings you out on tonight? This doesn't seem like you're kind of thing."

Rory raised her eyebrows. "And what would you know about my kind of thing?"

He hadn't expected her to give dish it right back to him. "You just don't seem to know anyone here."

"I know Steph. And you, though through no fault of my own."

Rory watched as Logan glanced back towards the bar. She thought he was checking to see where Steph was, but then she noticed him looking at where Colin was talking with two girls, one of whom was looking at Logan with an annoyed expression on her face. It was clear from the way the girl was tapping her foot that Logan had abandoned her to come talk to Rory.

It didn't take long for Rory to connect the dots. The blonde had to be Logan's conquest for the evening; or at least, she had been until Logan set his radar on Rory. Maybe she still is; it was hard for Rory to tell.

"You didn't answer my question," he said, shaking her from her thoughts. "What brings you out tonight?"

"I had a date," Rory said flatly. "Steph wanted to hear about it. That's it."

"A date huh? Must not have ended well, if you're out here with us."

Rory's insides were boiling with anger. Who was he to pass judgment on her date? Sure, it hadn't been the best date of all time, but it had ended well enough.

"My date ended fine," Rory snapped.

Logan studied her annoyed expression carefully, unsure of what he'd said this time to piss her off. His smile didn't waver. "You don't like me. You don't know me, but you don't like me."

She scoffed. "I know enough."

He turned his body to face her fully, resting one of his elbows on the table. He stared directly into her blue eyes, alight with anger, trying to throw her off balance a bit. "Then please, enlighten me."

"Huh. Gee. I wonder why it is that I don't like you," she said, sarcasm dripping off of every word. "Maybe it's because you treat picking up girls like its all one big game to you. We don't _matter_ to you, as long as you get laid, right?"

"I haven't heard any complaints so far."

"Like that would really make any difference to you. You look at girls like you're so sure they're going to wind up in bed with you, just because that's the way it's always been for you. But here you are, passing judgment on my date just because I didn't go home with him when it's becoming quite clear that you've _never_ had a meaningful conversation with a woman without imaging her naked first. And who are you to _look_ at a girl like that, huh? It's not a woman's god given right to go to bed with you, just because you smile at her."

"I never said it was," said Logan. He was starting to get annoyed. "In fact, sleeping with a girl just because it's my 'god given right' eliminates the woman's choice from the equation. I never force anyone to go home with me, they go willingly."

"That still doesn't give you the right to treat women the way you do."

"Women being you?"

Rory hesitated. "What?"

"You're mad because of the way I looked at you the two previous times we've met, not because of my chosen lifestyle."

"No, I'm mad because you don't treat any women with respect. _Including_ me."

"Not true," he argued back. "I have a lot of respect for women, especially those who have the courage to tell me all the reasons they don't like me to my face, such as you're doing right now."

"That's not called courage," Rosemary interrupted. "I do that on a regular basis."

Logan glared at her, warning her to stay out of the argument. She put up a hand in surrender, and Logan turned back to face Rory.

"Wow," he said. "That was impressive. So basically, your argument is that you don't like me because you think I'm a misogynist."

He was putting words in her mouth now. "That's not what I – "

"Because you're basing your argument on the fact that I enjoy having casual sex over long relationships. Which sounds to _me_ like you're the one passing judgment over my way of life, not the other way around. Tell me, are you mad because _I'm_ the one having casual sex, or because I sleep with girls who do it as well? Because if it's the latter, then I've gotta say, that's a bit of a double standard."

Rory looked positively livid now. "That's not what I'm saying at all!"

"Then what are you saying?"

Honestly, she was a little confused herself. "Picking up girls isn't a game. We're not disposable, we're actual people. You can't just disregard one girl because another one came along."

"I agree."

"Oh really? Then what's with the girl standing by the bar, glaring at you like she's imagining you on fire for talking to me?"

Logan had almost forgotten about Tiffany. Damn. "I came over to say hello. It would have been rude not to."

"Right," said Rory with a roll of her eyes. Her arms were folded tightly across her chest.

Logan couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. It had been a long time since a girl had spoken to him like that. But instead of feeling put down, Logan was rather amused. He surprisingly enjoyed the fact that Rory wasn't falling down at his feet; it was refreshing.

"Wow. That was some debate."

"I wasn't debating with you. You asked me why I didn't like you, so I told you. It's not my fault that you're so argumentative."

"Just trying to defend my honor, here. You paint me out to be some kind of Casanova, but I can assure you that I'm quite the gentleman."

Rory scoffed. "_Please_!"

Logan leaned in closer. "Only for those who deserve it." He didn't give time for Rory to expand on his comment. Instead, he pushed himself away from the table, leaving her there to ponder what he meant.

* * *

><p>Just as he'd expected, Tiffany was still willing to go home with him, despite having ditched her briefly to push Rory's buttons. He kept replaying the conversation over and over again in his head as the two walked in silence back to Logan's suite. He'd had a lot of fun arguing with her, a fact which surprised him. In all honesty, he found Rory to be fascinating.<p>

She was beautiful, that was clear. But her beauty wasn't something that could just be seen; it had to be experienced. It was the way her beautiful, blue eyes darkened with anger the more annoyed she got with him. It was how she wrinkled her nose in annoyance. It was how she carried herself, returning all his retorts with such confidence, which contrasted with the doe eyed innocence he remembered from their first encounter, the one where she looked so uncomfortable at finding a naked stranger in her room.

She positively loathed him. That was fine. She didn't need to like him. What Logan wanted was to experience having another discussion with her, much like the one they'd just had in the Pub. He wanted to watch as he threw her off balance with his comebacks. He didn't need her to like him for that, all he needed was to find another excuse to run into her so he could see what other buttons of hers he could push.

It was so very un-Logan like, wanting to keep a girl around who hated him, just so he could argue with her.

He reached his suite and Logan lead Tiffany into his room, closing the door behind him. Thoughts of his plan to intentionally piss Rory off slowly slid away as Tiffany pulled her shirt over her head. Logan smirked. He'd continue planning tomorrow.

As the last image of Rory's annoyed expression drained away, he made the decision to ignore Steph's advice. He wasn't going to back off. There were girls like Tiffany, who could barely hold a conversation with him, who bored him senseless in all aspects of his life except his bedroom, and then there were girls like Rory. Girls who were special. Girls he could see himself talking to for hours, and walking away completely satisfied. No, he wasn't going to just leave her alone. He'd find as many ways to push her buttons as possible, if that's what it took.

_Let the games begin_.


	4. A Ride At Disney Land

**A/N: **I know that all of my updates have been coming a bit slow lately, but I promise you that I AM working on them! I also know that this chapter isn't the longest, but I really wanted to give the next part it's own chapter, and I thought that by squeezing everything into one chapter would be a bit too choppy. So this isn't really the best chapter I've ever written, but it's an important stepping stone to what comes next.

I've also had quite a few inquiries about Fighting For Something. I'm still working on it, I promise, it's just given me a bit of difficulty lately. In the mean time, I have plenty of other things for you to read while I work on it. So please try to be patient as you wait for me to update all my stories. I have to juggle writing with college, and sometimes it can be tricky. I'm trying my best though.

Anway. Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Four – A Ride At Disney Land<span>

Logan groaned at the sound of his cell phone ringing on the bedside table next to him. The girl from last night (what was her name again? It was something that started with a T. Tanya? Taylor? Teresa? Thalia? Terry? No…Tiffany! That was her name) was sprawled out in the bed next to him, still sound asleep. He groped for the phone blindly, wanting nothing more than to make it stop the incessant ringing noise.

"What?" he barked at the person on the other end of the line. He hadn't even bothered to see who it was.

"Did you _really_ have to do that last night, Logan?"

It took him a moment to register what the voice was talking about. He couldn't possibly imagine what he'd done last night to make someone sound so angry with him. And anyway, he wasn't even properly awake yet!

"Why is this?" he grumbled.

"_Who is this_? Really? It's Steph, you moron!"

In all honesty, Steph wasn't nearly as mad at Logan as she was letting on. She had her own suspicions regarding what had happened last night at the bar. She'd carefully watched the way Logan had interacted with Rory, the way he smiled at her even though she was clearly pissed off. It was as though her anger only served as encouragement to him, something that would normally turn Logan away easily. He didn't normally have to work so hard for his prospects. In any case, he'd had a girl for that night already. Why he felt the need to go out of his way to badger Rory (and really, that was the only way to describe what he was doing. He'd intentionally sought to get into a disagreement with her, there was no doubt in Steph's mind) was a bit of a mystery.

Then there was the fact that Rory wasn't willing to put up with whatever game Logan was playing in the first place. Steph and Rosemary had both been impressed by the way Rory dished back everything Logan had given to her. Not that Logan had put down his weapons and let her walk all over him; Logan was too good at his games for that. The two had played off of each other well, despite the fact that neither one of them had realized it. Rory had successfully put Logan into his place, and while Logan left Rory feeling slightly confused.

At first, Steph had thought that Logan was just wasting his time by messing with a girl who would be unwilling to budge an inch (which she had to admit, was part of the appeal of watching Logan try in the first place) but now Steph wasn't so sure. Rory was much harder to read than Logan was, maybe because she didn't know her so well yet. Still, Rory's feathers definitely seemed a little ruffled after her interaction with Logan.

"Wow," Steph had said when she'd returned to the table with their drinks, after watching Logan walk away. "That was impressive. I've never seen someone argue with Logan like that before. Well, his Dad, maybe. Never a girl, though. No one has the courage."

"I don't know how you put up with him," Rory commented, folding her arms across her chest. "He's so…"

"Cute?" Steph suggested.

"What? No!" Rory said in a rush, willing herself not to blush.

Steph raised her eyebrows. "No?"

"What is it with everyone asking me that? First my mom when I told her about the naked Finn incident, then Rosemary while you were at the bar, and now you. I mean, yes, objectively speaking, he's an attractive human being. But so what? Good looks aren't the most important thing in the world!"

Steph and Rosemary shared a quick look with each other. It was clear to them that Rory had no idea who Logan was. That was a first with them; they were used to the woman hanging around Logan practically fawning all over him because his last name is Huntzberger.

Rory felt uneasy at their shared secret. "What is it that you two aren't telling me?"

_This is going to be interesting_, thought Steph.

"There's a line to get to him," she said flatly.

Rory actually laughed. "A line to get to him? You mean, get in bed with him?"

"Pretty much," said Rosemary.

She laughed again, harder this time. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! What is he, a ride at Disney Land? Is there a turnstile next to his bed, counting how many pass through? Do they wait outside his room, waiting for him to call their number? What in the world could possibly be so special about one boy that warrants a line? He has no respect for women!"

"On the contrary, he has a lot of respect for women. He just doesn't believe in seeing one at a time." Steph told her.

"And apparently he's really good in bed," Rosemary added.

"And that makes up for being a jerk?"

"He's just messing with," said Steph. "Try not to take it too personally. He doesn't like being proven wrong."

Rory frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I asked him to play nice and keep the innuendo to himself. I swore up and down that he wasn't trying anything funny; I think he's trying to prove to me that he's _not_ trying to turn you into just another conquest."

"Oh," Rory replied. She wasn't sure if that statement was a compliment or an insult. Should she be glad that she seemed to be the one girl he was treating with respect (or at least his twisted version of respect), or annoyed that she seemed to be the only girl he _didn't_ think was good enough to go to bed with him?

"I like her," Rosemary commented. "We should keep her around more. She'll keep the guys in check."

But that seemed to be the question of the hour; whether or not Rory _would_ stick around and hang out with them. Steph couldn't help but notice that Rory was far more annoyed by Logan's behavior than she was letting on. It was enough to warrant the early morning wakeup call to Logan the next day.

Steph continued to berate him. "Why did you have to piss her off on purpose, Logan? Do you really hate her that much?"

"What are you _talking_ about?"

"Rory!"

As Logan's mind began to awaken, he started to remember the details of the night before, specifically his thoughts about Rory. She had been a bit of a distraction, to be honest, and it had proved to be quite annoying. He had been completely focused on Tiffany in the moment, although his thoughts returned to Rory as he was drifting off to sleep afterwards. In his half asleep, post sex haze, he remembered the fierce and determined look on her face as she counteracted every point he made. It was a sight to behold, and he started to wonder what other ways he could push her buttons to provoke such looks. And then, just before he fell asleep, a thought popped into his head. He wondered how that look would translate into the bedroom. If he found her so captivating in the midst of annoyance, how would that same look appear when caught up in the throes of passion?

Of course, it was pointless to wonder such things. Their debate had shown him that she wasn't the type of girl to sleep around. And anyway, he'd made a promise to Steph. He didn't need Rory for that, in any case. He had a more than plentiful supply of girls who actually _wanted_ to sleep with him, unlike Rory. What he didn't have was a girl to actually hold a conversation with that didn't make Logan want to chop his own ears off. That's where Rory came in.

With a sigh, Logan sat up in bed, reaching to the ground to pull his discarded boxers back on. Careful not to wake his bed partner, he quietly went out to the deserted common room.

"I don't hate her," said Logan, taking a seat on the couch. "She's a nice girl. Good arguer."

"Well, do you have to piss off every girl who doesn't want to sleep with you on purpose?"

"What difference does the way I interact with Rory make? It's none of your concern."

"Because, idiot, Rosemary and I are friends with her. It makes it a little difficult to spend any time with her if she won't come near us because she hates you!"

Logan wasn't sure he entirely believed her. This wasn't the first time Steph had gotten mad for the way he spoke to Rory. "Is that really it, Steph? Or is there something else you're not telling me?"

"Don't be stupid, Logan. What else could it be?"

He couldn't fathom it himself, so he decided to just let the subject go for the time being. "Look, if she really doesn't want to be around you guys just because the two of us got in a healthy debate or two, then she has bigger problems. We're not always going to agree on everything; she's just going to have to accept that. In any case, it was _fun_ debating with her. So what's the problem?"

Steph sighed. "You'd tell me if there was something else going on, right? Like, if there was more than just you being your usual self."

Logan frowned. "I don't follow."

"Like, for example, if the two of you really didn't get along at all. Or maybe you got along too well. You'd tell me about it, wouldn't you?"

Logan didn't see any reason why he shouldn't agree. Because there _was_ nothing else going on. Rory was just another girl added to their usual group of friends.

"Sure, Steph. I'd tell you if there was something else going on. But there isn't, and there won't be."

* * *

><p>There was no other way to explain it: Rory Gilmore was extremely stressed out.<p>

Her course load was proving to be far more intense than she could have ever imagined; she was finding it a little hard to keep up. Still, Rory was determined. If her grandfather could handle taking five classes a semester while he was at Yale, than so could Rory.

The only difference was, Richard didn't have Paris and Janet and Tana living with him during his freshman year. While things had calmed down a little with regards to the war between Paris and Janet, the situation was still a little tense in suite five of Durfee Hall. To begin with, Paris appeared to be fighting with her boyfriend Jamie. Although perhaps fighting wasn't the correct term. It was hard to say _what_ exactly they were doing, because rather than deal with the problem, Paris was simply ignoring his phone calls. Rory was forced to listen to the phone ring over and over again while Paris sat on her bed glaring at it. On the rare occasion that Paris _did_ answer her phone, she'd yell at Jamie and promptly hang it up seconds later.

Then there was Janet, whose latest exorcize regime included a miniature trampoline. This perhaps would not have been a problem if the trampoline wasn't so squeaky. The repetitive squeaking noise was forever echoing in Rory's ear as she attempted to study. Matters only became worse when you added Tana into the mixture. Her other, shy roommate usually wasn't much of a problem, except for the fact that she had recently taken to watching TV rather loudly in the common room. Rory felt bad asking her to turn the volume down; she didn't want the others to think she owned the room just because her grandmother had purchased all that expensive furniture.

There was nowhere to study. Her dorm was too noisy, and the libraries were too quiet. Or maybe Rory was just being too particular.

She couldn't go home, either. Rory's bedroom in Stars Hollow had temporarily become a sort of food storage area, as her mom and Sookie prepared to cater the launch party of her grandfather's new business venture with Jason Stiles.

So Rory hadn't really noticed that she'd been a little anti social lately. Or at least she didn't until she literally ran into Steph and Rosemary at the coffee cart.

"Rory, hey!" the blonde girl called from across the quad as Rory waited in line for some much needed caffeine. Rory waved as the two girls came running up to her.

"Haven't seen you around lately," Steph pointed out when they reached her.

"Yeah, sorry. Things are a little hectic lately. The phone won't stop ringing because Paris won't answer it, and Janet squeaks, and Tana watches the TV too loud. And I can't go home because my room is filled with some kind of broccoli tart. And the library doesn't have the right feel, so I was just going to get some coffee and find someplace to sit outside and study."

"I don't know what any of that means," Rosemary said.

She should probably stop doing that, talking at a million miles an hour and expecting everyone else to know what she was talking about. "My room's too loud, the library's too quiet, and there's nowhere to study at home. I'm just a bit stressed out right now."

"Oh, well that's a relief," said Steph. "We thought you were avoiding us."

"Or avoiding Logan, to be specific."

It hadn't even occurred to Rory that she hadn't seen them since the night at the bar. "No, just trying to study. Nothing too out of the ordinary."

They waited while Rory ordered her coffee, and then followed her through the courtyard. "Well, if you're not avoiding us, then come hang out now. We were just about to meet up with the guys," Rosemary told her.

"I'd love to, really, but I have a ton of studying to do. Another time, maybe?"

Rory barely gave them a chance to agree before she hurried off, desperate to find the perfect place to study.

* * *

><p>Logan spotted Rosemary and Steph standing near the coffee cart talking to someone as he made his way down the path with Colin and Finn. The girl turned slightly, gesturing wildly, a haggard look on her face. He smirked; it was Rory. Logan hadn't seen the girl since that night at the bar, putting his plans of pushing her buttons on a temporary hold. Now seemed like the perfect chance for him to spark some kind of conversation that would get her riled up without getting her too angry with him.<p>

Unfortunately, almost seconds after receiving her coffee, she hurried off in the opposite direction, away from his friends.

"Was that Rory?" Colin asked the girls when they reached Rosemary and Steph.

"Who's Rory?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, that was Rory," answered Steph, completely ignoring Finn's question.

Although he was a little disappointed, he brushed it off immediately. He'd have plenty of other opportunities, and he didn't see any reason why he couldn't use this one to his advantage anyway. "I hope she didn't leave on my account," Logan commented casually, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Steph gave him a skeptical look, to which he shrugged. "No, she had to study. She's a little stressed, that's why she left in a hurry"

"Why would she leave because of Logan?" Colin asked.

Rosemary rolled her eyes. "Because Logan's lead her to believe that he's a misogynistic playboy who treats having sex with girls like a ride at an amusement park. And he picked a fight with her."

"Hey!" Logan protested. "That's a little harsh criticism. When have I ever treated women like trash?"

"Well, I wouldn't have put it that bluntly," Steph said. "But come on, Logan. You sleep with a lot of girls. You all do. It looks really bad to someone who's not used to that."

That annoyed Logan. He didn't think he should have to apologize for the way he chose to conduct himself. Sure, he hadn't always been truthful to women in the past. He'd told girls things he didn't mean, and snuck away in the middle of the night to avoid an awkward confrontation in the morning. But Logan liked to think he was better than that now. He knew better than to say anything to a girl just to get her into bed with him. He wasn't that stupid.

"Look, it's not a big deal," Steph continued. "She looks at relationships differently than the rest of us. Let it go."

But Logan wouldn't let it go, not now. If being around Logan forced Rory to challenge her views, then there was no way Logan would back down. So as they made their way through campus and Logan spotted Rory leaning against a tree as she studied, he came up with a plan.

* * *

><p>Rory woke up the next morning with a new sense of relief. Once she found her new study tree, she'd managed to get an unbelievable amount of work done. The stress that Rory had been feeling for the past couple of weeks had lifted a little, now that she'd found a place to get some work done.<p>

She was in a good mood as she meandered around campus that afternoon, on her way to her new study tree. But as she approached the spot, she stopped short in her tracks. There was Logan, leaning up against the exact spot she'd been sitting in the day before, reading a newspaper.

Anger surged through her. He had to be doing this on purpose. Somehow, he must have figured out that she'd be there, at that tree, and had come specifically with the goal of getting on her nerves. There was no other explanation for his sudden presence in the exact spot she needed to study.

Rory tried to keep herself calm as she marched towards the tree, stopping in front of him only when she was close enough to cast a shadow over him, essentially blocking out his light.

Logan looked up, smirking.

"Hey, Rory," he said casually, lowering his paper a little. "Long time no see."

She shifted her bag from one shoulder to the next. "What are you doing here?"

"Reading the paper," Logan replied, holding it up to show her, as though giving her proof. "It's a nice day out."

"You're leaning on my tree. I need it back."

"I wasn't aware the tree belonged to you," Logan replied politely, his grin never wavering. "Did you plant it yourself?"

Rory huffed. She wasn't in the mood for this. "No, it's not _mine_ exactly, but I need it. I have to study."

"Well by all means, don't let me stop you. I promise to be on my best behavior."

Even though his voice was dripping with formality and politeness, there was something in his smile that indicated he was teasing her. It was meant to come out as playful, but Rory wasn't in the mood for it.

"I can't _study_ with you here! And I can't go anywhere else. Paris just lets the phone ring, or she yells at Jamie. And Janet's trampoline squeaks, and Tana watches TV loud, but I can't ask her to turn it down because my Grandmother's crazy. And my room's filled with broccoli tarts because my mother's catering a party for my grandparents. And the libraries are all too quiet; you can practically hear the lights buzz! Then I found this tree and it's perfect. It fits the shape of my back, and it's in a place that's reached that perfect equilibrium of quiet, but not too quiet. I got so much work done yesterday, and I have a ton today. So no, there is nowhere else in either New Haven or Stars Hollow that I can study except for that tree!"

Logan just stared at her. "I have no idea what you just said." He had to hand it to Rory, the way in which she'd rambled was impressive. She'd barely even paused to take a breath as she spoke.

"No, you wouldn't, would you?" She sighed. "Look, just give me the tree so I can study, please? Isn't there somewhere else you can read the newspaper?"

He looked at her with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He definitely _was_ doing this on purpose.

"This tree has the best lighting," Logan said as he glanced upwards at the sun. "I'll tell you what. Why don't we share it?"

"Seriously?" Rory exclaimed, her frustration taking over. "You won't give up this spot to let me study so you can read the newspaper? Does college mean nothing to you?"

"Well, actually – "

But Rory didn't let him finish his sentence. "I mean, here I am working my butt off, and it's still not enough. I'm struggling to keep up with my classes, and my roommates are driving me insane, and you just…treat everything like it's some big joke. Is making me mad fun to you, Logan? Because I don't think it's very funny. Or do you really just hate me _that_ much?"

"Hey, I don't hate you," Logan insisted, folding up his newspaper and putting it down in his lap.

"Then why does every conversation I have with you either make me feel incredibly awkward, or make me want to throttle you?"

He stood up slowly, being careful to look at her directly.

"Have you ever noticed that you're very quick to jump to conclusions about me?" he asked her calmly. But he didn't give her a chance to respond. "You have this whole opinion formulated about me already, based on a few observed actions and a couple of comments here or there. I won't deny the fact that I don't really do relationships, or that I'm what one would probably call an underachiever when it comes to studying. But you don't know everything about me. Think about that while you're studying."

Logan walked away, leaving her completely stunned in his wake.


	5. A Change of Perspective

**A/N: **I am SO SORRY about the delay in this chapter! I've actually had it mostly finished for a while now, but then real life caught up with me, hence why it's taken me so long to finally post this.

In this chapter, you'll get the explanation for why Logan didn't take his boat trip. I also pull a lot of direct quotes from the Die Jerk episode, which this is based around. In addition, I pull a bit from Season 5, and Rory's realization that Logan is a Hutzberger. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Five – A Change of Perspective<span>

As the semester wore on, Rory tried her best to avoid Logan whenever possible. It was easier than actually speaking with him. On the occasional night when Steph or Rosemary or their friend Juliet managed to convince her to come out to the Pub with them, Rory would skillfully go somewhere else whenever Logan tried to approach her.

Everything that Logan did or said seemed to annoy her. She'd see him everywhere: in the cafeteria, in line for the coffee cart, on her way to class. It was slowly starting to seem like there were very few places around New Haven she could go without running into him. If she didn't know any better, Rory would think he was stalking her, except for the fact that on multiple occasions he was already somewhere she happened to be going to.

It wasn't even necessarily that she didn't like him, although that was definitely true. It was the way he purposely seemed to push her buttons, as though he _wanted_ to piss her off. But he did it in a way that Rory couldn't tell if he was trying to invoke an argument or flirt with her. No one seemed to toe that line better than Logan did, and he knew it. He'd make an offhanded comment that he somehow _knew_ would set Rory off, and when she finally lashed out, he'd only smirk. To make matters worse, his smirk was attractive. She could tell from the twinkle in his eyes that he was used to girls going weak at the knees with that smirk. Rory ordered her knees to stay fully intact whenever he sent that look in her direction.

Then there was the way in which he never seemed to take anything seriously. He always seemed to be hanging out with a group of friends; never studying quietly the way Rory always was. Rory would be sitting alone eating lunch, a book opened on the table next to her as she attempted to finish her reading for class later that afternoon, when Logan would enter the cafeteria with a group of friends, conversing so loudly her concentration would be broken. She'd accused him of not taking college seriously before. Rather than refute her accusation, he'd thrown it back in her face. But from outside appearances, it seemed like Logan didn't care one bit about classes, or his grades. She tried not to let it annoy her, but it was as though he was _purposely_ pushing his lifestyle into her face by suddenly appearing wherever she was without a care in the world while she stressed out about classes.

As if that wasn't enough, Logan had a different girl on his arm every time she saw him, and they had no problem with rather overt public displays of affection. It was by no means cute; it was sickening. Did Logan really have no respect for women whatsoever? She couldn't imagine any other reason why he'd feel the need to parade his escapades around for the entire world to see. By that point, Rory had heard more than enough about Logan's reputation. Any attraction she may have imagined was gone. Logan was nothing more than a shallow playboy who thought he could get away with anything because his family has money. He'd accused her of being quick to judge him, but the more she heard about him, the less she liked him.

* * *

><p>More than anything, Logan wished he'd been able to take the year off Yale with Colin and Finn like they'd originally planned. Instead of sailing around the world like he'd wanted, Logan had to deal with his father's constant harassment about not fulfilling his potential.<p>

Mitchum had turned down the trip almost the minute Logan mentioned it to his father. He'd spent weeks arguing, even getting his sister Honor on his side to help in the debate, but in the end Mitchum vetoed the trip.

"You don't know nearly enough about the business you're supposed to take over to take a year off school," Mitchum had insisted. "You're not even responsible enough to hand in an article for the school paper!"

That was only partly true. He hardly ever handed in an article because he hardly ever showed his face at the Yale Daily News. He hated that place; it reminded him too much of the future he never wanted, but had no choice but to take. He didn't actually mind writing articles for the paper itself. In fact, Logan rather enjoyed actually writing an article every once in a while. It was the fact that he was forced into it in the first place that made Logan shy away from it. Maybe if Logan hadn't grown up being told that this was the life he was destined to have Logan would have made his way to writing on his own accord. But because his father forced it on him, shoving it down his throat every chance he got, every article he wrote for the Yale Daily News was tarred with bitterness.

So of course, the year he wasn't even supposed to be at Yale in the first place was the year that Mitchum decided to constantly be on his case about writing articles for the paper. Logan put him off for as long as possible. Finally, by the end of October, Logan had to admit defeat. Unless he got a move on soon, Mitchum would come banging on his door, wondering why he hadn't had a byline all year. In order to avoid that, he'd need to go into the YDN office.

* * *

><p>"It just seems like a quaint archaism," Paris said to Rory as she flipped through the latest edition of the Yale Daily News in the newspaper's office. "I mean, if you're a good journalist, why make you jump through hoops and write all these tryout articles?"<p>

They'd been on the paper for a while now, although technically as freshman, they still weren't on staff. In order for that to happen, Rory had been writing articles for just about every single section of the paper as a sort of trial period.

"It's a time honored tradition," Rory replied. "All our forebearers had to do it." Rory frowned. She couldn't find her latest article.

"If our forebearers had fought it, we wouldn't be dealing with it now."

Rory folded the paper with a sigh. "My article's not in there."

"What do you mean?" Paris asked. "It has to be; they print _everything_!"

"Well, I've checked it pretty thoroughly, and it's definitely not in there." She was really confused. She'd worked hard on that article.

Rory walked over to Doyle's desk, waiting in front of it for him to acknowledge her.

"Morning, Gilmore," he greeted cheerily, holding out a box of mints. "Coffee mint?"

"No thanks. I was just wondering if there was a problem with my review of the chamber music recital. Did I get it in late?"

Doyle didn't stop working. "Nope, you got it in on time. You're very good with that."

"Well then, I'm just a little confused as to why my article wasn't printed. Was it a space issue?"

"No, we had the space. Frankly, it was a bit of a yawn."

Rory frowned. "The music?"

"No, I mean your writing. Bit of a yawn. But don't worry; you'll do better next time."

"Right." Rory started to move away, stunned. Then she heard Doyle groan.

"Oh no!" he mumbled. "He's back."

"Who's back?" Rory asked, slightly confused.

She didn't have to wait long for an answer, because the subject was standing right next to her with blond hair and a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Logan!" Doyle said with obvious false enthusiasm, hopping out of his seat so fast the chair slammed back into the wall. "So good to see you! How's the family?"

"Doyle, good to see you," Logan replied politely, extending his hand to shake it. "The family's good. You know how they are; waiting for my next byline."

"Of course!" Doyle exclaimed a little bit too loudly. "The thing is, we didn't exactly expect you back any time soon, so I kind of already handed out all the assignments."

"Perfect, just the assignment I was looking for. Maybe next time."

"Of course!" Doyle said, his smile never leaving his face. "You know where to find us."

"Sure." Logan then turned to Rory, a wide grin on his face. His eyes trailed over her form slowly, making her squirm. "Rory, nice to see you."

She glared at him as he sauntered out of the news room, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"Okay, what was that about?" Rory asked Doyle.

But the small interaction hadn't escaped Doyle's notice. "You know Logan. How do you know Logan?"

"I don't _know_ him, really. I know a couple of his female friends."

"You know his conquests?"

"No, his actual friends. Doyle, what's going on?"

"I really hate that guy!" Doyle went on, completely ignoring her. "Those rich…white…_males_."

Rory rolled her eyes. "Doyle, you're a rich, white male."

"Not like him. Every so often, usually when he's sick and can't party, he'll wander into the news room in search of a byline. And of course, we'll throw him an article because if we don't, his father shows up in an uproar, threatening to pull our funding."

"So his father's rich?" She'd figured that one out a long time ago.

"His father is Mitchum Huntzberger."

Rory's jaw dropped. "Mitchum Huntzberger? The _newspaper_ guy?" She wondered how it could have taken her so long to find this out. Then she realized that not once had anyone mentioned Logan's last name around her.

"And our biggest financier. All Logan has to do is waltz in here like he owns the place, and I have to bow down and kiss the ground he walks on. I can hardly get him to write an article. The worst part is he's actually a really good writer. His pieces are always great, but he's such a pain in the ass whenever he deigns to grant us with his presence that it's almost not even worth the trouble. Boy, I _really_ hate that guy."

It was just her luck. Rory couldn't believe that she'd made an enemy of the son of the biggest guy in the newspaper industry. "You and me both."

* * *

><p>"Gilmore, perfect! Just the person I was hoping so see."<p>

Rory was back in the Yale Daily News office. She had spent hours researching, writing, and rewriting her latest review in the hopes that, this time, her article would be better.

"I was just going to hand in my next article," Rory told Doyle, slightly put off. "We can talk about that later if you want."

"No, I can look at it right now." Rory handed him the article and pulled up a chair at Doyle's desk.

"Listen, I need a favor." Doyle was slashing at her article with a red pen, crossing out line after line of writing.

"Um, Doyle? You're crossing everything out."

"Not everything." He skipped a line and crossed out the next one. "I need you to get Logan Huntzberger to write an article."

That was the last thing Rory expected to hear. "What?"

"Logan Huntzberger. I called him in to assign him an article and he just laughed at me. Then the next day, Mitchum showed up in a rage. 'I'd like to hand my business over to my son, Doyle,'" Doyle said in a tone that was meant to imitate Mitchum's voice. He crossed out another line in her article.

"But what does any of this have to do with me?"

Doyle put his pen down, having finished her article. "You know him. Word on the street is he doesn't seem to detest being in your company."

Rory folded her arms across her chest. "Well, that's too bad, because I detest being in _his_ company."

"Listen, Gilmore. This article is not good. Now, what I need is for _someone_ to get Huntzberger to complete an assignment so that Daddy Dearest doesn't show up and give me another coronary. So along with your next article, I need you to convince Logan to actually write the article I assigned him in the first place!"

Rory felt slightly defeated. "It's really not good?"

"It's getting better, but no."

"But I worked so hard! I did all this research – "

"Oh, don't worry. The facts are all there. But the article itself isn't great."

Rory didn't understand where she went wrong. She'd spent _hours_ working on this one article, trying to get it to be what she thought Doyle wanted. Here she was, completely unable to please her picky editor, whereas Logan could just walk into the newsroom and have everyone kissing the ground he walked on. He didn't even have to try to please the editor; bylines were handed to him like candy.

She jumped out of her chair as her anger reached its boiling point. "I have to go," she said by only way of explanation. She slung her bag over her shoulder and marched out of the newsroom.

Rory's anger and frustration was building as she made her way across campus to Logan's dorm. How was it fair that, just because his father was the biggest name in journalism, Logan could waltz into the Yale Daily News like he owned the place? How was it fair that _he_ was somehow able to write articles that satisfied Doyle without even trying while Rory was struggling for the same recognition? Rory wanted to be a journalist more than anything. Logan had exactly what she was working so hard to achieve without putting in even a tenth of her effort. To say it made her mad was an understatement.

Finally, Rory arrived at his room and pounded on the door with her fist.

Logan smirked at her when he opened the door. "Hey, Rory. What brings you – "

She cut him off, pushing passed him into the common room. "You know what I _really_ hate about you?"

His smile faded slightly as Logan shut the door behind her. He turned to face her. "Hello to you too."

"What I _really_ hate about you is how everything just seems to be handed to you. No effort necessary whatsoever. You don't work hard at Yale. You have girls _falling_ at your feet just for the chance to be _looked at_ by you. And, you know, none of those things really affected me, so it was just a minor annoyance that I couldn't seem to get rid of. Then you show up at the Yale Daily News!"

Logan folded his arms across his chest. "Now, how does that affect you, exactly?"

"_Because_ after weeks and weeks of working so hard to write an article that Doyle actually likes, you just _waltz in_ like you own the place because, oh wait! Your father owns the entire freaking journalism world! How is it fair that you, who never tries at _anything_, has the one thing that I've been working my entire life for? Today I went to hand in my article, and not only did Doyle tell me that it sucks, but he ordered me to come over here and get _you_ to write something because, apparently, that's something else you're good at without even trying. What's next, huh? Anything else you'd like to do better than me without trying? Are you gonna move to my town and steal all my friends because they like you better than me? And you don't even care about any of this!"

Any amusement Logan may have been feeling about Rory's appearance disappeared. "Listen – "

"I don't _want_ to listen to you! I've put up with all your crap for weeks because I actually _like_ Steph, but I'm tired of it, Logan! You don't seem to care about anything. Not Yale, not girls, not the paper. And I know Steph asked you to back off, and yet you keep provoking me intentionally, so it seems to me like you don't even care about your friends either! And it's all just _so funny_ to you! Everything's one big joke. What about your family, huh? Do you care about them?"

His anger surged at the mention of his family. "You have _no idea_ what you're talking about, Rory. You don't know anything about my life."

"You're right, I don't. And you know what? I. Don't. Care. I don't care what game you're trying to play with me, but I'll tell you right now that I'm not going to be part of it. You can treat everyone else however you want, but when it's affecting my life at the paper, I draw the line. So here's the deal: you're going to write the article that Doyle assigned you. Or don't, I don't care either way. But it's not fair to the rest of us to have you just _hanging around_ while I'm working my butt off and I can't seem to get Doyle to like anything I give him!"

There was a knock on the door, interrupting Rory's rant. Logan ignored Rory's look of annoyance and yanked his door opened.

His grew wide in shock. "Dad."

"I gave you a week, Logan," said the large man as he stepped through the doorway into Logan's room. "I gave you plenty of time get an article written. Yet you still can't seem to do what I asked you to do."

Logan sighed. He wasn't in the mood for this, and he really didn't want to get into an argument with his dad in front of Rory. "This isn't the best time, Dad. I have company."

Mitchum glanced once at Rory. "I don't give a damn about some dumb floozy you've got hanging around this week! You won't even remember her name in a few days!" Rory winced. Even though she was by no means one of Logan's dumb floozies, Mitchum's harsh tone stung a little.

Logan must have noticed her involuntary reaction. "Hey!" he yelled back, equally as mad as his father now. "You don't know anything about her! What give you the right to come down here and insult my guests? Go ahead and yell at me about what a failure I am, but don't you dare come down here and pass judgment about a girl you don't even know."

"Don't change the subject, Logan! You have certain responsibilities! One of those is writing a simple article for the paper so that you can actually learn a thing or two about the business. You don't even bother to show up at the internship I handed to you! How else am I supposed to teach you about the business you're going to take over?"

"Oh yeah?" Logan shot back. "Did you ever for one second think that maybe I don't want to write an article for the paper because I don't give a damn about the paper, or the family business, or any of this crap you've been forcing on me since I could crawl? I hate this shit, Dad, and you know it. But no, you won't let me do anything I want to do, will you? So I'll smile, and I'll show my face at the paper because I don't have a choice, but there's nothing you can say that will make me want to write an article for the paper. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm a little busy at the moment, so I don't have time for yet another lecture on what a disappointing son I am to you." Logan didn't wait for his father to respond. Instead, he shoved him across the threshold and out the door, slamming it in Mitchum's face.

Rory watched in shock as Logan picked up a book that was sitting on the table near the front door and threw it across the room. He plopped down his the couch, letting out a huge sigh as he scrubbed at his face with his hands and ran them through his hair.

She'd never seen anyone argue with one of their parents like that before. Logan's father had come over with one intention: to let his son know how much he wasn't living up to his supposed expectations. It suddenly made sense to Rory why Logan would act like he didn't care about anything. The opposite was true. He just didn't want to let anyone know what he really cared about in case someone, like his father, came along and yanked the rug out from under him.

Logan looked up, as though suddenly remembering that Rory was still there. "Look, can we do this some other time?" he asked.

Rory ignored him, sitting down on the couch next to him. "I'm sorry." She hesitated, then placed her hand on his knee as a sign of comfort.

"For what?"

"For attacking you like that. Because you're right; I don't know what your life is like. I shouldn't have just assumed that everything was perfect." Rory signed and removed her hand. "I think I get it now."

Logan frowned. "Get what?"

"It's all an act, isn't it? You walk around like you don't have a care in the world, but it's just an elaborate façade, isn't it?"

Logan sighed. She was too close to the truth. "It's all just a big distraction from my predestined life that I don't even want."

"Is it really worth it? Goofing off just to avoid all that?"

He shrugged. "I used to try. When I was a kid, I wanted nothing more than to impress my father. But then he'd never show up at any of my games, and when he did he's criticize every mistake I made. Then one day I realized, I'm doing all this stuff to impress him when he doesn't actually care about anything except his precious company. So I started messing around, doing what I actually wanted to do. He's mad, but at least I'm having fun." He didn't know why he was telling her this.

Rory didn't want to push him, but she understood. No matter what he did, his father was always disappointed in him.

"My grandparents hate me," Rory blurted out.

Logan turned to her, frowning. He knew that wasn't true. The Gilmore's loved her. "I'm sure they don't hate you."

"Well not me, exactly. They hate my existence." Rory sighed. "My mom had me when she was 16. It was this whole big scandal. She didn't want to marry my dad, so he was never really around. And she didn't agree with my grandparent's values, so she took off with me one night to have our own life. Then one day when I was like 16, my dad showed up out of the blue for a visit. And…see my mom and I had to go to dinner at my grandparent's every Friday night for dinner. So when my dad showed up we brought him to dinner, and my grandparents decided to invite my dad's parents. The whole thing was just awful. I'd never met them before, and they barely even acknowledged my presence. They couldn't even say my name. They didn't care that I was top in my class at Stars Hollow High or that I was going to Chilton. All they cared about was that my mom ruined my dad's life by having me. They didn't want to have anything to do with me."

Logan looked at her with so much sympathy in his eyes. He couldn't imagine anyone actually denying Rory's existence, no matter what happened with her parents when they were younger. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

Rory shrugged. "It was a long time ago. I'm just trying to say that I get how you feel. I mean, I know we can't exactly compare battle wounds because the situations are different, but still. I know what it's like to feel like there's nothing you can do to make someone care."

They stayed in a tense silence for a long time.

"I'm sorry I've been such an ass," Logan finally said.

"It's fine."

"No it's not. You're a really nice, intelligent girl, and I treated you like crap."

"You don't have to get along with everyone you talk to, Logan. It's fine if we're not friends."

"But I _did_ provoke you on purpose. Mostly because you already seemed to hate me so much, but you're also one of the few people who will actually talk back to me when I'm giving them crap. It's impressive."

She felt herself relax a little.

"So what was all that stuff you were going on about before? You said something about Doyle not liking your articles."

"Huh?" Rory asked in confusion. "Oh, it's nothing. I just…worked really hard on these articles and apparently they suck. It's no big deal."

"Let me take a look."

"What? Logan, no you don't have to do that."

"Come on, Ace." Logan insisted, knocking his knee playfully against hers. "Let me make it up to you. I know all this journalism crap backwards and forwards. Let me help you out."

"Ace?" Rory asked with a frown as she reached into her bag to pull out an extra copy of her article.

"Sure, like Ace Reporter." He took the copy from her hands and started reading it.

"I don't know," she started to babble while Logan read. "I drank a lot of coffee when I was writing it, so maybe some of the caffeine buzz played a role of something. But I rewrote it like, four times, so I don't know what else I could have done to make it better."

Logan lowered the paper.

"Well?" she asked, slightly nervous to hear his review.

"It's really not that bad," Logan reassured her. "Doyle's just being an ass. But he's right; it's not particularly _good_ either. I can't tell what you thought. You're writing a concert review, and I can't tell what your opinion is at all. What's your next assignment?"

"Some ballet review."

"Great. This time, try not to focus so much on what happens, but what you _think_ about the performance. This piece has no personality because you kept your opinion out. That's why Doyle didn't like it."

Rory sighed. "I still don't think it's fair that you're actually good at all this stuff while the rest of us have to work for recognition."

Logan smirked. This time, she saw something genuine in his smile that she hadn't noticed before. "Hey, if you had it drilled into your head from the day you were born, you'd be a natural too."

* * *

><p>Something had shifted, that much Rory was sure of. The two of them had come to some sort of an understanding. As Rory walked back to her dorm, she started looking at Logan from a different perspective. He wasn't someone to be taken at face value, as she'd originally thought. There was much more to him than just what he showed on the surface. There was something else there. Rory wasn't sure if she wanted to find out what that was, but she had a feeling that Logan wasn't going to do away any time soon.<p> 


End file.
